Ashe County, North Carolina

• White (non-Hispanic) 24,475 90.8%
• Hispanic or Latino (any race) 1,630 6.0%
• Black or African American (non-Hispanic) 239 0.9%
• Asian (non-Hispanic) 119 0.4%
• Two or more races (non-Hispanic) 367 1.4%
• American Indian / Alaska Native (non-Hispanic) 66 0.2%
• Native Hawaiian / Pacific Islander (non-Hispanic) 0 0.0%
• Some other race (non-Hispanic) 54 0.2%

• Under 18 4,547 16.9%
• 18–24 1,727 6.4%
• 25–44 5,694 21.1%
• 45–64 7,639 28.3%
• 65 and over 7,343 27.2%

Median household income

$57,567

90% interval $51,798–$63,336

−$16,488 vs NC · 68th of 100

Below poverty line

15.5%

90% interval 12.6%–18.4%

+2.9 pp vs NC · 41st of 100

Unemployment (12-mo)

3.1%

−0.64 pp vs. state

County GDP

$1.1B

0.13% of state

Avg. annual pay

$49,652

Establishments

736

• Trade, transportation & utilities 1,779 23.7%
• Education & health services 1,638 21.8%
• Manufacturing 860 11.5%
• Construction 816 10.9%
• Leisure & hospitality 809 10.8%
• Professional & business services 551 7.3%
• Public administration 479 6.4%
• Financial activities 194 2.6%
• Natural resources & mining 124 1.7%
• Information 19 0.3%

The sectors listed cover 96.9% of covered employment; BLS withholds the rest to avoid disclosing individual employers.

Home ownership

79.4%

+12.8 pp vs NC · 15th of 100

Median gross rent

$859

−$369 vs NC · 60th of 100

Owner-occupied

9,685

Renter-occupied

2,516

• Moderately concentrated

  Top three sectors employ 57% of the county workforce. Substantial intra-sector overlap among panelists is likely; confirm employer relationships before sector-specific framing.

• Moderate wage spread

  Highest-paid sector (Construction, $72,160/yr) pays 3.4× the lowest (Leisure & hospitality, $21,378/yr). Expect meaningful income variation across the panel.

• Mixed business scale

  Average establishment employs 10 workers, a mix of institutional employers and small businesses. Both employed-by-large-institution and small-business-owner perspectives are likely on the panel.

• Republican 11,629 71.8%
• Democratic 4,431 27.4%
• Other / third-party 127 0.8%

• Spanish 1,016 3.9%
• Vietnamese 77 0.3%
• German or other West Germanic 35 0.1%
• French, Haitian, or Cajun 18 0.1%
• Russian, Polish, or other Slavic 16 0.1%
• Korean 16 0.1%
• Chinese 9 0.0%

Households

12,201

Family households

8,349

68.4% of households

Married couples w/ children

1,630

19.5% of families

Single-mother families

608

7.3% of families

Veterans

1,482

6.6% of civilians 18+

• Evangelical Protestant 8,344 31.4%
• Mainline Protestant 2,143 8.1%
• Catholic 1,465 5.5%
• Other (non-Christian + minor traditions) 129 0.5%

Health insured

90.2%

±1.9 pp

Uninsured

9.8%

±1.9 pp

52nd of 100

With a disability

20.0%

±1.8 pp

15th of 100

Bachelor's or higher

25.9%

±3 pp

−9.8 pp vs NC · 41st of 100

Uninsured, under 65 (2024)

12.9%

90% interval 11.5%–14.3% · Census SAHIE

The under-65 uninsured rate is not comparable to the ACS insurance figures, which cover all ages.

Trial court

34th Judicial District Superior Court

Judges

1 (Superior Court judges per primary district (general civil + felony criminal jurisdiction); District Court judges (limited jurisdiction) separate. Vintage 2026 nccourts.gov; counts cross-checked against N.C.G.S. § 7A-41.1. Where an urban county (Wake, Mecklenburg, Guilford, Forsyth) is statutorily split into multiple Superior Court districts, all sub-district seats are aggregated under the primary district number used in counties.json. ~109 Superior Court judgeships statewide.)

Court seats

Jefferson, Sparta, Wilkesboro, Yadkinville

This judicial district spans multiple counties.

Traffic fatalities

3

13.39 per 100k adults (18+)

Fatal crashes

3