Ranked 9th of 51 states (with the District of Columbia) in the United States, North Carolina counts 10.73 million residents. This page lays out the income and housing picture and a trade-by-trade look at the competition.
The state contains 15 metro areas, from Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC (2.77 million people) down to the smallest listed at the end of this page.
Owner-occupied homes carry a median value of $288,900, 13 percent below the national figure; the national comparison point is $332,700. On income, North Carolina sits at $72,388 per household, 10 percent below the national figure.
66.6% of homes are lived in by their owners, 1 points above the US share. North Carolina has a median age of 39.1 (about the same as the national median). 35.7% of adults finished a four-year degree or more (about the same as the US share). Unemployment in the civilian labor force is 4.7%, about the same as the US share.
Against its largest metro, the median income is 13 percent lower than the Charlotte metro figure, the median home value is 19 percent lower than the Charlotte metro figure, and the number of businesses per resident is 7 percent thinner than the Charlotte metro figure; see the Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC page for the full figures.
There are 258,169 employer businesses in North Carolina. Relative to population, 24.1 per 1,000 residents, 4 percent below the national figure. Home-services contractors make up 14,032 of those establishments, 5.4% of the total, about the same as the US share.
| Trade (NAICS) | Count | Per 100,000 | Index vs US |
|---|---|---|---|
| Automobile dealers | 1,848 | 17.2 | 1.27× |
| Electrical contractors | 3,089 | 28.8 | 1.20× |
| Landscaping services | 4,361 | 40.6 | 1.20× |
| Plumbing, heating and air-conditioning contractors | 3,973 | 37 | 1.16× |
| Highway, street and bridge construction | 325 | 3 | 1.14× |
| Self-storage facilities | 645 | 6 | 1.13× |
| General automotive repair | 2,793 | 26 | 1.07× |
| Roofing contractors | 816 | 7.6 | 1.04× |
| Concrete foundation and structure contractors | 749 | 7 | 1.04× |
| Child day care services | 2,612 | 24.3 | 1.03× |
| Restaurants and other eating places | 19,414 | 180.9 | 1.02× |
| General freight trucking | 3,444 | 32.1 | 0.95× |
| Grocery and convenience retailers | 2,916 | 27.2 | 0.94× |
| Lessors of real estate (all) | 3,835 | 35.7 | 0.91× |
| Beauty salons | 2,226 | 20.7 | 0.86× |
| Dentists | 3,551 | 33.1 | 0.85× |
| Personal care services (all) | 4,049 | 37.7 | 0.82× |
| Physicians' offices | 5,476 | 51 | 0.81× |
| Other specialty trade contractors (paving, asphalt, fencing) | 1,044 | 9.7 | 0.79× |
| Legal services | 4,178 | 38.9 | 0.75× |
Reading the index: 1.00 matches the national mix, 1.50 means half again as common here, 0.50 half as common.
Relative to the national mix, automobile dealers, electrical contractors, landscaping services and plumbing and HVAC contractors take up an outsized slice of the North Carolina business base. Automobile dealers stand out with 1,848 locations, 1.3 times what the national mix would predict. Less common here than nationally: legal services, specialty trade contractors, physicians' offices and personal care services. With 4,178 locations, legal services sit at about 75% of the national share. Roofing contractors, concrete contractors and road and paving contractors track the US share closely.
On a per-capita basis restaurants come first at 180.9 per 100,000, ahead of physicians' offices and landscaping services. By raw count the largest categories here are restaurants (19,414), physicians' offices (5,476) and landscaping services (4,361). Sector view: automotive businesses index at about the same as the national share, legal services at about 75% of.
automobile dealers, electrical contractors and landscaping services face a full field here. Each new review, each answered call and each page that matches a specific search is a small edge, and the edges add up. Scarcity in legal services, specialty trade contractors and physicians' offices cuts the other way: fewer rivals per search, cheaper clicks, and a chance to become the default answer in the map results with a modest, steady effort. An older-than-average market (median age about the same as the national median) responds to search results, review counts and a phone number that is answered; it is less swayed by feed advertising. Where income runs 10 percent below the national figure, financing and clear pricing belong in the ad itself, not on a later page.
Six places to begin in North Carolina; the complete list is one click away.
Replies to reviews, written and posted for the business.
Content for the site, planned around what people search.
Search advertising that pays for intent, not impressions.
Keeping the Business Profile complete, current and answered so it earns the map placement.
Search optimization aimed at the local queries that produce calls.
Design and build of a site that turns local traffic into leads.
We will look at your Business Profile, your site and your current ads, then say plainly what to fix first.
Data: US Census Bureau ACS 2024 5-year estimates and County Business Patterns 2023.