Income
Segregation by Design
Charlotte’s neighborhoods (like those of many American cities) are highly segregated by race and economic status. A quick review of the Charlotte/Mecklenburg Quality of Life Explorer’s interactive maps reveals that the data support this claim. The two racial categories with the highest share of the county’s population are White (44.7% of county residents) and Black […]
How jobs contribute to the racial wealth gap
This is the fourth in an ongoing series, based on a report by the Urban Institute. The report was compiled with support from Bank of America, which partners with the UNC Charlotte Urban Institute and the Institute for Social Capital on research that provides insight into community initiatives. Join us Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. on […]
Historical Overview Part 3: The rise of banking builds a globally connected region
While Duke was building the world’s largest electrical network in the Western Piedmont, some Charlotte mill owners recognized that more money could be made loaning money to aspiring industrialists than making cloth themselves.
In Charlotte housing debate, let’s look at underlying factors
For many decades, the complex and difficult challenges of housing low-income Charlotteans have been the source of local studies, public debate, public policy formation and a variety of actions. This short paper is intended to trace the evolution of the challenges in Charlotte and the responses to them, with an eye toward the future for […]
Has Charlotte metro income really declined?
Recently the site FiveThirtyEight.com reported that of the largest U.S. metros, only Charlotte’s median income, “experienced a statistically significant decline” in 2013. What’s going on? That statement may signal to the casual reader that wages are sinking in the Charlotte region. In reality, however, that “statistically significant decline” appears to be the result of a […]
Charlotte’s economic recovery struggles to take hold
Charlotte has lagged much of the country in this period of economic recovery, but the region has finally begun to see a few small signs of better days on the horizon. Over the past several months, there has been gradual improvement in the unemployment rate and home price index in the region. These bright spots […]
Where everybody is above average
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 […]