Demographics

This has been a year of change and growth for the UNC Charlotte Urban Institute. As I look back on the year’s highlights – and look forward to a new project we’ll debut early in 2012 – I’m reminded of the role the institute has played since 1969 in the greater Charlotte region. For those […]

If you grew up in the Charlotte region, it was common to hear this question, if your accent or mannerisms did not fit with the expected Southern norms: You’re not from around here, are you? Through the 1990s and into the mid-2000s, the Charlotte region experienced a dramatic wave of in-migration that changed its demographics […]

In Garrison Keillor’s mythical hometown of Lake Wobegon, all the children are above average. In terms of where the college-educated live, there are a few Lake Wobegons, and then there is everywhere else. In North Carolina, the state’s top two cities, with their higher concentrations of college-educated residents and their population heft, boost the state’s […]

When you think of an immigrant, what comes to mind: the person who helped build your house, or the physician discussing your treatment plan? New research indicates that “there are just as many high-skilled as low-skilled working-age immigrants currently living in the United States, and the growth rate of more educated arrivals to the United […]

Charlotte-Mecklenburg high schools have some of the region’s highest graduation rates. They also have some of the lowest. A look at recently released public high school graduation rates for North Carolina shows a wide disparity in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools. Yet CMS as a whole, compared to other systems in the region, has the lowest overall graduation […]

Charlotte-Mecklenburg high schools have some of the region’s highest graduation rates. They also have some of the lowest. A look at recently released public high school graduation rates for North Carolina shows a wide disparity in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools. Yet CMS as a whole, compared to other systems in the region, has the lowest overall graduation […]

Local perceptions may not have caught up with the new reality in the Charlotte region’s manufacturing economy. Even before the recession began in 2007, declines in the textile and furniture industries were changing the structure of local employment. As the downturn continued, counties that depended less on textile and furniture manufacturing lost fewer jobs. The […]

In 1960, the median age for the United States was 29.5 years, meaning that half the population was older than that, and half was younger. In the 2010 Census, the median age for the country moved up to 37.2 years, reflecting what many demographers refer to as the “graying of America”. As with other changing […]

A summary presentation of population trends related to North Carolina. Based on Census 2010 preliminary (redistricting) data released in the spring of 2011. To see a PDF of the presentation: Download PDF Read the related article on this site.

An examination of the Census 2010 data released so far provides several insights into how North Carolina’s growth compared to other states. North Carolina was the 6th fastest-growing state in the 2000s at 18.5%, putting it just between Texas and Georgia, and virtually tied with Georgia in growth since the 1990s. That level of growth […]