Keep up with our latest demographic insights
Earlier this year, we discussed in a series of blog posts the recent 2016 Census Bureau population estimates for North Carolina. While some municipalities in North Carolina have experienced stable, even explosive growth since 2010, a large portion have experienced little to no population growth in this decade. We are revisiting these estimates with a series of maps of North Carolina’s municipalities. When visualized spatially, several aspects of North Carolina’s unique growth patterns are revealed.…
In 2000, nearly 515,000 of the state’s 3.1 million households—16%—received retirement income. This proportion increased to 19% or 693,000 households by 2010-14, according to the American Community Survey. While the number of households receiving retirement income has increased by 178,000, a growth rate of 35%, the aggregate value of retirement income received has grown even more. Retirement income received by North Carolina households rose from $8.7 billion in 2000 to $15.1 billion by 2010-14. This…
North Carolina’s foreign-born population has grown by more than 800% over the past 35 years. In 1980, fewer than 80,000 North Carolina residents had been born in another country to non-citizen parents. By the 2012-2014 time period, more than 750,000 North Carolina residents were foreign-born. Most of this growth was driven by the increases in the populations born in Latin America (Central and South America) and Asia. This post focuses on trends in the foreign-born…
When I moved into my first office at UNC, I inherited a framed, infographic poster published by the News & Observer after the release of the 2000 Census data. It’s a great overview of the significant growth and change that occurred in North Carolina between 1990 and 2000, and highlights many trends that continued in the decade that followed. One of these shifts was the increasing concentration of population in mid-size towns and larger cities.…
When discussing redistricting, I’ve heard individuals raise the question, “Why don’t we just let computers draw the lines and be done with it?” And why not? We let computers run so many aspects of our lives, why not this one as well? While computers and GIS software are fundamental to the completion of redistricting tasks, programming the computer to draw the maps requires firmly established criteria. Even with clear criteria, there are thousands of legal…
North Carolina will likely have 14 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives following the post-2020 Census reapportionment process. While we cannot guarantee a 14th seat (no matter how likely), we can guarantee significant changes to the state’s congressional district boundaries during the 2021 redistricting process. North Carolina’s population has grown substantially in the past few decades, and it continues to grow. At the same time, population is increasingly concentrated in urban cores within the…
December 21, 2017: This post provides an updated look at potential 2020 reapportionment shifts based on the July 1, 2017 population estimates. Every decade, following the decennial Census, the 435 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives are allocated to the 50 states on the basis of their population. After the 2000 Census, 12 House seats shifted between 18 states. Ten states lost at least one representative while eight states gained at least one representative.…
The major function of the decennial census is apportionment, the allocation of the 435 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives to states based on their population size. Every 10 years, following reapportionment, states undergo a redistricting process, redrawing congressional (and other) district boundaries to reflect population changes within their state. Individual redistricting guidelines vary from state to state, but basic federal requirements for congressional redistricting mandate equal population size among the redrawn congressional districts…
At Carolina Demography, we regularly field questions from individuals and organizations about demographic data availability, usage, and interpretation. Curious about what's out there? Here's our guide to key data resources for North Carolina. Decennial Census The Census is conducted every ten years on April 1st. It is a complete count of all housing units and all individuals and contains information on age and sex, race and ethnicity, household structure, and home ownership. Access data at American…
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