Demographics

Times have been tough in the local economy, but it looks as if we’ve finally turned the corner. If growth is starting to make a comeback, exactly where will it be? Is your county ready? In the 2000s growth in the Charlotte region was surging, with the Charlotte MSA* the sixth fastest in population growth […]

New single-family residential building permits in Mecklenburg County have been on a roller coaster ride since 2003. But preliminary numbers show a promising upswing heading into 2013. Using U.S. Census Bureau data1 to examine the previous decade’s trends tracking back to 2003, what can we expect for new construction as we move forward in 2013? […]

Since 1993 the City of Charlotte has tallied information about some (and in later years all) city neighborhoods, in its regular Quality of Life reports. But this year major changes are afoot for the project, which opened its online doors to the public on Monday. The report now covers all of Mecklenburg County, and it’s […]

In the 2011-12 school year, charter school students in Mecklenburg numbered 8,281, or 5.68 percent of the 137,497 students enrolled in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools.* Local nonprofit MeckEd has organized information on local charter schools in a way that will help make it easier to understand more about each school and the results each is achieving. Bill […]

When I moved to Charlotte more than 30 years ago, Matthews was the suburb. It lay directly in the path of the major growth trajectory – southeast. The drive to central Charlotte was a reasonable 25-30 minutes. The cute, but miniature, downtown Matthews and a few surrounding blocks of turn-of-the-century houses gave a historic feel […]

The Baby Boomer generation redefined the lifestyle, consumption patterns, and values of each new life stage they entered. Wherever Boomers flocked, prices rose and businesses changed in response to meet their needs. Will the GenY/Echo Boom/Millennial generation do the same? A flurry of articles citing new reports about Echo Boomers’ transportation preferences say, “Yes.” But […]

For at least the last 50 years, polling organizations have been using two simple questions to get respondents to describe how the last year treated them from an economic viewpoint and how they think the next one will be: Compared to this time last year, would you say your current economic situation is better, about […]

Just like F. Scott Fitzgerald’s character Nick Carraway, who went “East, permanently, I thought,” in 1922 in The Great Gatsby, people today are on the move and looking for a place to rent. Fitzgerald’s Carraway – a recent college graduate, returning war veteran and single – hopes to start his career in the bond business. […]

Commuting stories – we’ve all got one. Some are worse than others. Mecklenburg commutes are some of the worst in the nation. How does your commute time stack up? The maps below use 2010 U.S. Census data to break down average commute times into five-minute intervals (with the exception of the three highest categories) by […]

Are people who are unemployed or financially distressed more likely to vote than those who have jobs or are financially sound? According to data going back to the 1992 general election, they are not. Time will tell whether the job losses and damaged personal finances of the Great Recession featured in this election campaign will […]