Demographics of North Carolina covers the varieties of ethnic groups who reside in North Carolina and relevant trends.
Center of population
The center of population of North Carolina is located in Randolph County, in the town of Seagrove.
The United States Census Bureau, as of July 1, 2009, estimated North Carolina's population at 9,380,884 which represents an increase of 1,340,334, or 16.7%, since the last census in 2000. This exceeds the rate of growth for the United States as a whole. The growth comprises a natural increase since the last census of 412,906 people (1,015,065 births minus 602,159 deaths) and an increase due to net migration of 783,382 people into the state. Immigration from outside the United States resulted in a net increase of 192,099 people, and migration within the country produced a net gain of 591,283 people. Between 2005 and 2006, North Carolina passed New Jersey to become the 10th most populous state.Table 1: Estimates of Population Change for the United States and States, and for Puerto Rico and State Rankings: July 1, 2005 to July 1, 2006 . United States Census Bureau. December 22, 2006. Retrieved December 22, 2006. The state's population reported as under 5 years old was 6.7%, 24.4% were under 18, and 12.0% were 65 or older. Women made up approximately 51% of the population.
Metropolitan areas North Carolina has three major Metropolitan Combined Statistical Areas with populations of more than 1 million: Charlotte Metro: Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, North Carolina-South Carolina - population 2,402,623 The Triangle: Raleigh-Durham-Cary-Chapel Hill, North Carolina - population 2,156,253Research Triangle Piedmont Triad: Greensboro-Winston-Salem-High Point, North Carolina - population 1,589,200
North Carolina has nine municipalities with populations of more than 100,000, with 16 municipalities with populations over 50,000 (U.S. Census Bureau 2010 figures): Charlotte: Mecklenburg County - population 731,424 Raleigh: Wake and Durham Counties - population 403,892 Greensboro: Guilford County - population 269,666 Winston-Salem: Forsyth County - population 229,617 Durham: Durham and Wake Counties - population 228,330 Fayetteville: Cumberland County - population 200,564 Cary: Wake and Chatham Counties - population 135,234 High Point: Guilford, Davidson, Randolph and Forsyth Counties - population 104,371 Wilmington: New Hanover County - population 106,456
Officially, as drawn from verified US Census Department Statistics, the 15 largest cities in North Carolina are: 1 Charlotte: Mecklenburg County - population 731,424 2 Raleigh: Wake County - population 403,892 3 Greensboro: Guilford County - population 269,666 4 Durham: Durham and Wake Counties - population 256,330 5 Winston-Salem: Forsyth County - population 233,123 6 Fayetteville: Cumberland County - population 200,564 7 Cary: Wake and Chatham Counties - population 135,234 8 Wilmington: New Hanover County - population 106,476 9 High Point: Guilford, Davidson, Randolph and Forsyth Counties - population 104,371 10 Greenville: Pitt County - population 86,017 11 Asheville: Buncombe County - population 83,393 12 Concord: Cabarrus County - population 79,066 13 Gastonia: Gaston County - population 71,059 14 Jacksonville: Onslow County - population 70,145 15 Chapel Hill: Durham and Orange Counties - population 57,477
These figures may differ from local estimates, chamber of commerce estimates, or other unofficial sources.
Vital statistics Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) YearPopulationLivebirthsDeathsNatural changeCrude birth rate(per 1,000)Crude death rate(per 1,000)Natural change(per 1,000)Crude migration change (per 1,000)19997,650,789113,79569,60044,19514.879.105.7721.5420008,081,614120,31171,93548,37614.898.905.999.0820018,210,122118,18570,93447,25114.408.645.768.4320028,326,201117,33572,02745,30814.098.655.448.8620038,422,501118,32373,45944,86414.058.725.336.8520048,553,152119,84772,38447,46314.018.475.5510.6020058,705,407123,09674,63848,45814.148.575.5712.4020068,917,270127,85974,71653,14314.348.385.9614.0020079,118,037131,03776,04654,99114.388.346.0311.8620089,309,449130,83977,28353,55614.058.305.7513.0020099,449,566126,84577,11749,72813.438.165.268.9220109,574,586122,35078,77343,57712.788.234.558.4320119,658,913120,38979,88240,50712.478.274.205.1420129,751,810119,83181,92537,90612.298.403.896.1820139,846,717119,00283,32935,67312.098.463.636.5820149,937,295120,97585,36735,60812.188.593.585.97201510,037,218120,84389,13331,71012.048.883.166.79201610,161,802120,77990,46530,31411.888.902.989.30201710,275,758120,12593,15726,96811.699.072.628.94201810,391,358118,95493,88525,06911.449.032.416.57201910,501,384118,72595,88122,84411.309.132.177.47202010,449,652116,730109,4497,28111.1710.470.70–5.56202110,564,320120,466118,0932,37311.4111.180.2210.89202210,710,793121,562112,9238,63911.3610.550.81202310,881,189119,744107,74811,99611.009.941.062024122,856106,05516,80111.219.791.422025 11,197,968123,561107,74815,813
Note: Births in table do not add up because Hispanics are counted both by their ethnicity and by their race, giving a higher overall number.
+ Live Births by Single Race/Ethnicity of Mother Race 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 White 67,551 (55.8%) 67,122 (55.5%) 65,746 (54.4%) 64,278 (53.5%) 63,514 (53.4%) 62,205 (52.4%) 60,518 (51.8%) 63,239 (52.5%) 62,762 (51.6%) 61,143 (50.9%) 62,159 (50.6%) Black 31,963 (26.4%) 31,864 (26.4%) 27,422 (22.7%) 27,886 (23.2%) 27,670 (23.3%) 27,733 (23.4%) 27,228 (23.3%) 27,028 (22.4%) 26,375 (21.7%) 25,135 (20.9%) 24,854 (20.2%) Asian 5,730 (4.7%) 5,861 (4.9%) 4,942 (4.1%) 5,006 (4.2%) 4,834 (4.1%) 4,867 (4.1%) 4,718 (4.0%) 4,684 (3.9%) 4,824 (4.0%) 4,920 (4.1%) 5,391 (4.4%) American Indian 2,025 (1.7%) 1,964 (1.6%) 1,465 (1.2%) 1,597 (1.3%) 1,599 (1.3%) 1,574 (1.3%) 1,351 (1.2%) 1,407 (1.2%) 1,401 (1.2%) 1,309 (1.1%) 1,228 (1.0%) Hispanic (any race) 17,784 (14.7%) 18,091 (15.0%) 18,362 (15.2%) 18,464 (15.4%) 18,360 (15.4%) 19,105 (16.1%) 19,449 (16.7%) 20,613 (17.1%) 22,568 (18.6%) 23,788 (19.8%) 25,485 (20.7%) Total 120,975 (100%) 120,843 (100%) 120,779 (100%) 120,125 (100%) 118,954 (100%) 118,725 (100%) 116,730 (100%) 120,466 (100%) 121,562 (100%) 120,082 (100%) 122,856 (100%)
Since 2016, data for births of White Hispanic origin are not collected, but included in one Hispanic group; persons of Hispanic origin may be of any race.
Race and Ethnicity +North Carolina – Racial and ethnic compositionRace / Ethnicity (NH = Non-Hispanic)Pop 1980Pop 1990Pop 2000Pop 2010 Pop 2020% 1980% 1990% 2000% 2010% 2020White alone (NH)4,428,5624,971,1275,647,1556,223,9956,312,14875.29%74.99%70.16%65.27%60.46%Black or African American alone (NH)1,304,5631,449,1421,723,3012,019,8542,107,52622.18%21.86%21.41%21.18%20.19%Native American or Alaska Native alone (NH)63,79778,93095,333108,829100,8861.08%1.19%1.18%1.14%0.97%Asian alone (NH)21,15350,593112,416206,579340,0590.36%0.76%1.40%2.17%3.26%Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander alone (NH)x included in the Asian category in the 1980 Censusx included in the Asian category in the 1990 Census3,1655,2596,980xx0.04%0.06%0.07%Other race alone (NH)7,0242,1199,01515,08846,3400.12%0.03%0.11%0.16%0.44%Mixed race or Multiracial (NH)x not an option in the 1980 Censusx not an option in the 1990 Census79,965155,759406,853xx0.99%1.63%3.90%Hispanic or Latino (any race)56,66776,726378,963800,1201,118,5960.96%1.16%4.71%8.39%10.72%Total5,881,7666,628,6378,049,3139,535,48310,439,388 100.00%100.00%100.00%100.00%100.00%
Per the 2020 U.S. census, the racial and ethnic distribution of North Carolina's population was 60.5% white non-Hispanic, 20.2% Black non-Hispanic, 1.0% Native American/Alaska Native non-Hispanic, 3.3% Asian non-Hispanic, 0.1% Pacific Islander non-Hispanic, 0.4% Other race non-Hispanic, 3.9% Mixed race or Multiracial (non-Hispanic), and 10.7% Hispanic or Latino (of any race).
North Carolina has historically been a rural state, with most of the population living on farms or in small towns. However, from the late 20th century onward, the state has undergone rapid urbanization, leading to most of North Carolina's residents living in urban and suburban areas, as is the case within most of the United States. In particular, the cities of Charlotte and Raleigh have become major urban centers, with large, diverse, mainly affluent and rapidly growing populations. Most of this growth in diversity has been fueled by immigrants from Latin America, India, and Southeast Asia.
In addition, large numbers of people from the Northeastern United States, Florida and California have moved to the state in recent years. North Carolina was one of the country's fastest growing states in the 1980s and 1990s. The growth rate subsided in the first decade of the 21st century due to changed economic conditions, but it continued to attract new residents.
+AncestryPercentageMain article:African(21.6%) Of Total)See African AmericanAmerican(13.9%)See American ancestryEnglish(9.5%)See English AmericanGerman(9.5%)See German AmericanIrish(7.4%)See Irish AmericanScots-Irish(3.2%)See Scots-Irish AmericanItalian(2.3%)See Italian AmericanScottish(2.2%)See Scottish American
County Seat 2010 Projection Mecklenburg Charlotte 925,084 Wake Raleigh 900,072 Guilford Greensboro 474,605 Forsyth Winston-Salem 350,784 Cumberland Fayetteville 311,777 Durham Durham 262,256 Buncombe Asheville 234,697 Gaston Gastonia 205,489 Union Monroe 203,527 New Hanover Wilmington 200,401
African-American population
African Americans make up nearly a quarter of North Carolina's population. The number of middle-class Black residents has increased since the 1970s. African Americans are concentrated in the state's eastern Coastal Plain and in parts of the Piedmont Crescent, where they had historically worked and where the most new job opportunities have been. African-American communities number by the hundreds in rural counties in the south-central and northeast North Carolina, and in predominantly Black neighborhoods in the cities of Charlotte, Raleigh, Durham, Greensboro, Fayetteville, Wilmington, and Winston-Salem.
Until the mid-1820s, North Carolina had more small farms and fewer plantations than the adjacent states of South Carolina and Virginia. These "yeoman" farmers were non-slave-holding (or owning few slaves), private land owners of tracts of approximately 500 acres (2 km²) or less. Relatively few Black people live in the state's mountains and rural areas of the western Piedmont. In some mountain counties, the Black population has historically numbered in the few dozens at most.
Free African Americans migrated in the colonial and post-Revolutionary period to frontier areas of North Carolina from Virginia. Detailed family histories of 80% of those counted as "all other free persons" in the 1790–1810 federal census show they were descendants of African Americans free in Virginia during the colonial period. As boundaries were then more permeable, most free African families descended from unions between white women (free or servant) and African men (free, servant or slave). Indians who adopted English customs became part of free African American communities and married into the families. Some of the lighter-skinned descendants formed their own distinct communities, often identifying themselves as Indian or Portuguese to escape effects of the color line.Paul Heinegg, Free African Americans of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Maryland and Delaware
Asian American population
The state has a rapidly growing proportion of Asian Americans, specifically Indian and Vietnamese; these groups nearly quintupled and tripled, respectively, between 1990 and 2002, as people arrived in the state for new jobs in the growing economy. Recent estimates suggest that the state's Asian-American population has increased significantly since 2000. Indian Americans are one of the most highly educated groups in the US.