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Tools & Resources

Economic County Snapshots 2022

June 28, 2022
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NOTE: In 2023, we’re taking a pause to shift our publication schedule, and will release the next County Economic Snapshots in early 2024.  

By publishing them at the beginning of the year, we’ll be using fresh annual data from the U.S. Census, making the Snapshots more timely. We also hope that this publication schedule will make the Snapshots more useful for people who use these data to advocate for equitable investments through state and local budgets. Publishing them early in the year will mean they’re available at the beginning of the North Carolina’s state legislative session, and when many local governments start developing their budgets.  

Contact Logan Rockefeller Harris at [email protected] if you’re looking for specific data in the meantime, or if you have any feedback or ideas for us to consider during this pause.  

The NC Budget & Tax Center publishes Economic County Snapshots every year that include indicators for each county in NC on employment, poverty and income, housing, health, education, and supports for working families — all of which come from a variety of sources. For more information, contact us at [email protected].

This data is available in a Google spreadsheet here, or you can download the .csv file here.

Poverty and Economic Hardship

Employment

Educational Attainment

Income and Ability to Afford the Basics

Access to Affordable Housing

Healthy Lives and Communities

Data Sources

Front Page 

Population

Rental affordability

Health Insurance

Mental Health Providers

Candidates per job opening

  • NC Works Online, Supply and Demand Detail for North Carolina, Jobs and Candidates Area Distribution. Available at https://www.ncworks.gov/vosnet/dashboards/defaultana.aspx?menuid=MENU_START_PAGE_DASHBOARD_ANA. Downloaded June 1, 2022.
  • Job Source: Online advertised jobs data
  • Candidate Source: Individuals with active resumes in the workforce system willing to work in the county. (Note that candidates are duplicated across counties if they are willing to work in multiple counties.)

Employment compared to pre-COVID-19 and pre-Great Recession

  • NC Department of Commerce, Local Area Unemployment Statistics, Unadjusted (not seasonally adjusted) Employed data for December 2007, February 2020, and April 2022. Available at https://d4.nccommerce.com/LausSelection.aspx.

People with low incomes

Incomes of the richest 5% of households compared to the poorest 20% of households

Back Page 

Table 1: Poverty and Economic Hardship

Living in poverty

Table 2: Employment

  • NC Department of Commerce, Local Area Unemployment Statistics, Unadjusted (not seasonally adjusted) Employed, Unemployed, and Unemployment Rate data for February 2020, and April 2022. Available at https://d4.nccommerce.com/LausSelection.aspx.

Table 3: Educational Attainment

High school graduation

For counties with multiple Local Education Agencies (school districts), county graduation rates are estimated based on the enrollment in each district within the county.

College degrees

  • U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey, 2016-2020, Tables S1501 and S2001. Available at https://data.census.gov/cedsci/.
  • Data on bachelor’s degrees is for the population ages 25 and over.

Table 4: Income and Ability to Afford the Basics

Living Income Standard

Median earnings and income

  • U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey, 2016-2020, Tables S2001 and S1901. Available at https://data.census.gov/cedsci/.
  • Data on median worker earnings is for workers ages 25 and over.

Table 5: Access to Affordable Housing

Rent burden

Fair market rent

Table 6: Healthy Lives and Communities

Health insurance

Life expectancy

Mental health providers

Food assistance