Official Federal Data
Mecklenburg County, North Carolina
Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC · Population 1,154,681
10 Sources
Updated September 10, 2026
$87,005 up from the baseline named below
Median Income (nominal) vs 2019
$80,734 national
3.9% up from the baseline named below
Unemployment vs 2024
4.3% national
$186.1B up from the baseline named below
GDP (nominal) real change vs 2023
49.2% up from the baseline named below
Bachelor's+ vs 2019
35.7% national
Demographics & Population
Census Bureau American Community Survey 2020-2024 · 5-Year Estimates
Household Income
Source: U.S. Census Bureau · American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-Year Estimates
Median Household (nominal)
$87,005 up from 2019 vs 2019
Per Capita
$53,295 up from 2019 vs 2019
Mean Household
$128,782 up from 2019 vs 2019
Median Household (cost-of-living adjusted)
$89,419 metro RPP 97.3
Poverty Rate
10.4% down from 2019 vs 2019
Median Income Comparison
Mecklenburg County$87,005
North Carolina$72,388
National$80,734
Cost-of-living adjustment uses the BEA all-items regional price parity for Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC, 97.3 against a national average of 100 (2024). BEA publishes regional price parity at state and metropolitan level only; there is no county figure, so the metro index stands in for Mecklenburg County and the adjusted median is an approximation. Per capita and mean household income above are nominal and carry no adjustment.
Population Profile
Source: Census Bureau ACS 2020-2024 · Table B01001, B02001, B03003
CohortsShare of total population
Under 18 · 22.8%
18-34 · 26.4%
35-54 · 27.8%
55-64 · 11%
65+ · 11.9%
Race & Ethnicity
Hispanic or Latino is an ethnic category and overlaps with the race categories above.
Educational Attainment
Source: Census Bureau ACS 2020-2024 · Table B15003 · Population 25+
90.8%
High School+
National: 89.6%
up from national +1.2 pts vs national
49.2%
Bachelor's+
National: 35.7%
up from national +13.5 pts vs national
17.9%
Graduate+
National: 14.1%
up from national +3.8 pts vs national
Employment Overview
Source: U.S. Census Bureau · American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-Year Estimates
1,154,681
Population
660,759
Labor Force
Employed
632,115
Unemployment Rate BLS LAUS 2025 annual
3.9% up from 2024 +0.2 pts vs 2024
Mean Commute 1 min below national avg
25.1 min
Work From Home vs 15.1% national
28.5%
Labor Force and Employed are ACS 5-Year survey estimates; the Unemployment Rate above comes from BLS LAUS, a separate monthly survey with its own methodology. The two won't reconcile by subtracting one from the other.
Key Takeaways
- Income premium: Households earn well above the national median, supporting strong retail and housing markets.
- Talent advantage: Bachelor's-or-higher attainment exceeds the national average by 13.5 pts, supports knowledge-economy and tech attraction.
Economy & Industry
Bureau of Labor Statistics QCEW · Bureau of Economic Analysis
$186.1B up from 2023 +3.4% vs 2023
Gross Domestic Product · 2024
+3.4% real (inflation-adjusted)
·
+7% nominal
· 2023 to 2024
Source: Bureau of Economic Analysis · level and nominal change from CAGDP2 (current dollars); real change from CAGDP9 (chained 2017 dollars), both all-industry total. The two series agree in 2017, the chain reference year, and diverge by the amount of price change since.
97.3
Cost of Living · metro · Below Avg
Key Takeaways
- Largest private-sector industry: Finance and Insurance employs 89,881 workers (15.3% of tracked sectors), at an average wage of $173,895. Every industry figure on this page is private sector; government employs a further 81,277 and is counted separately.
- Economic scale: Regional GDP of $186.1B (2024).
- Wage stratification: Finance and Insurance averages $173,895 while Accommodation and Food Services averages $32,833, a 5.3x spread in the same local economy, with implications for workforce development and talent strategy.
Source: BLS QCEW + BEA Regional GDP.
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Industry Concentration
Location Quotient measures regional specialization vs. national average. LQ > 1.0 = concentrated.
Cluster Depth
Source: BLS QCEW · Sub-sectors with LQ ≥ 1.5 indicate genuine cluster concentration
Concentrated Sub-Sectors
7 sub-sectors at LQ ≥ 1.5
Largest grouping among them is Finance & Insurance Cluster at 54.2% of the employment across all of them, which signals supply-chain fit for site selectors
131,504
Employment in the sub-sectors listed
4.97x
Peak sub-sector LQ
Sub-Sector Detail
Air Transportation
4.97x 15,171
Credit Intermediation and Related Activities
4.24x 57,933
Telecommunications
2.72x 8,620
Securities, Commodity Contracts, Investments
2.27x 13,390
Management of Companies and Enterprises
2.07x 28,787
Internet Publishing and Broadcasting
1.57x 2,851
Performing Arts, Spectator Sports, and Related
1.54x 4,752
Attraction Opportunities
LQ < 0.5 with ≥ 50 employed, screened against local siting constraints. Source: BLS QCEW
0.05x
Transportation Equipment Manufacturing
491 employed
0.09x
Support Activities for Agriculture and Forestry
180 employed
0.14x
Apparel Manufacturing
60 employed
0.18x
Computer and Electronic Product Manufacturing
969 employed
0.21x
Primary Metal Manufacturing
411 employed
0.28x
Electrical Equipment, Appliance Manufacturing
635 employed
0.29x
Hospitals
8,682 employed
Screened on industrial power cost, rail-truck intermodal access, land base.
Industrial electricity in North Carolina costs 7.8¢/kWh against 8.62¢/kWh nationally (2025).
North Carolina has 5 rail-truck intermodal terminals, the nearest 4 miles from the county.
Land area 524 sq mi, larger than 38% of US counties.
Sources: EIA, BTS NTAD, Census Gazetteer.
Key Takeaways
- Top specialization: Air Transportation concentrates at 4.97x the national norm, strong concentration that anchors the local economy and supports supply-chain attraction strategy.
- Cluster depth: 7 sub-sectors register LQ ≥ 1.5, but 54.2% of the employment across them depends on one source of demand: finance and insurance. Read the count as depth within that single demand base rather than as spread across separate ones.
- Attraction whitespace: 7 sub-sectors register LQ < 0.5 with at least 50 employed, candidates for diversification or recruitment depending on labor-market fit.
Source: BLS QCEW sub-sector Location Quotients.
Housing & Affordability
Census ACS · HUD Fair Market Rents FY2026
Housing Overview
Source: Census Bureau ACS 2020-2024 5-Year Estimates · Tables B25001, B25077, B25064, B25004
$406,800 up from the baseline named below
Median Home Value vs 2019
$1,627 up from the baseline named below
Rent/Mo vs 2019
55.1% down from the baseline named below
Owner-Occ vs 2019
7.3% down from the baseline named below
Vacancy vs 2019
3.8% available
for rent or sale
for rent or sale
4.7x
Home Value to Income Ratio
vs. ~4.1x national average
HUD Fair Market Rents
HUD publishes these by FMR area, which may cover more than one county · Source: HUD · Fair Market Rents FY2026 · Affordability threshold and renter cost burden from Census ACS B25119, B25070
Studio
$1,469/mo
1 Bedroom
$1,538/mo
2 Bedroom
$1,686/mo
3 Bedroom
$2,076/mo
4 Bedroom
$2,637/mo
30% of monthly median renter household income (~$1,567/mo, from a renter median of $62,675) · rents above this line are typically considered cost-burdened.
Measured: 47.3% of renter households already pay 30% or more of income on rent, and 22.4% pay 50% or more.
Key Takeaways
- In line with national: Home value to income ratio of 4.7x sits near the ~4.1x national average; affordability is neither a clear advantage nor a recruitment friction.
- Affordable rent tiers: 2 of 5 HUD Fair Market Rent bedroom sizes sit below what a household on the median renter income of $62,675 can pay without cost burden (~$1,567/mo), and 47.3% of renter households are measured as cost-burdened.
Source: Census ACS housing tables + HUD Fair Market Rents.
Workforce Pipeline
Labor force readiness, commuting, and workforce composition
Labor Market Overview
Source: Census ACS 2020-2024 · Tables B01001, B23001, B23025, B08303, B08301
753,043 up from the baseline named below
Working Age (18-64) vs 2019
Mean Commute 1 min below national avg
25.1 min
Work From Home vs 15.1% national
28.5%
Prime-Age Employed (25-54)
85.5%
of prime-age population
Prime-age rate numerator is civilian employed (B23001); the denominator is total population aged 25-54 (B01001), which also includes armed forces.
of population age 16 and over (920,141)
up from 2019 vs 2019
Education & Talent Pipeline
Source: Census ACS 2020-2024 · Table B15003 · College Scorecard
Bachelor's+
49.2% up from 2019 vs 2019
HS Diploma+
90.8% up from 2019 vs 2019
Institutions in Mecklenburg County
Largest 6 of 13 by credentials awarded, in Mecklenburg County
Credentials awarded in Mecklenburg County
14,296/yr
8,666/yr
4,083/yr
672/yr
369/yr
265/yr
241/yr
Aging Workforce
Source: Census Bureau ACS · Derived from age & employment tables
16.9%
55-64 of working-age population (18-64)
Same cohort is 11% of total population, the basis used in the Demographics cohort chart.
Workforce by Occupation
Source: Census ACS 2020-2024 · Table C24010 · Civilian employed population 16+
Management / Professional
48.8%
Service
13%
Sales & Office
19.9%
Construction / Maint.
6.8%
Production / Transport
11.4%
Bars are drawn on a 0% to 60% axis, so bar length is proportional to actual share. Labels give each group's share of 632,115 employed workers.
Key Takeaways
- Healthy participation: 72% labor force participation reflects a steady, available local workforce.
- Talent pipeline: the 6 largest of 13 institutions in Mecklenburg County award 14,296 credentials a year. Employers drawing from a wider labor shed should read this alongside institutions outside the county, which this page does not aggregate.
Source: ACS workforce data and College Scorecard.
AI Insights
Sample output. Pulse AI analysis draws on 10 federal data sources.
Sample AI Insight
Mecklenburg County shows meaningful potential for air transportation attraction, with a 4.97x concentration and 15,171 jobs in this sub-sector.
Most of the employment across the concentrated sub-sectors traces back to a single source of demand. Finance and insurance accounts for 54.2% of it, with credit intermediation and related activities the largest single sub-sector at 44.1%. Recruitment that widens the demand base changes that exposure; recruitment inside the same base deepens it.
Industry Shift Analysis
Manufacturing Automation Risk
High
Healthcare Growth Forecast
+4.2% CAGR
Remote Work Migration
67/100
Prospect Match Scores
Advanced Manufacturing
92/100
Life Sciences
84/100
Data Centers
71/100
Illustrative example
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Data Sources
Updated from official federal government data.
Census ACS 5-Year2024
BLS QCEW2025 annual
BLS LAUS2025 annual
BEA Regional GDP2024
BEA Regional Price Parity2024
Census CBP2023
HUD Fair Market RentsFY2026
FCC Broadband Map2024
USAspending.govFY2026
College ScorecardAY 2022-23
American Community Survey figures on this page are 2020-2024 five-year averages rather than single-year counts. A five-year estimate pools 60 months of survey responses, so each value describes the period as a whole.
Frequently Asked Questions
Key economic and demographic figures for Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, from federal data sources.
What is the population of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina?
1,154,681 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-Year Estimates).
What is the median household income in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina?
$87,005 in nominal dollars (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-Year Estimates). Adjusted for local prices using the BEA all-items regional price parity for Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC (97.3 against a national average of 100), that is $89,419 at national average prices. BEA publishes regional price parity at metro level; there is no county-level figure.
What is the unemployment rate in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina?
3.9% (2025 annual average, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, LAUS).
What is the GDP of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina?
$186.1B (U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, CAGDP2).
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