Jury Pool Profile

Avery County, North Carolina

Republican +52 (2024)

Population: 17,643
Median household income: $57,657
Unemployment: 3.8%

Who sits on a jury?

Race & ethnicity

White alone 15,592 88.4%
Black or African American alone 742 4.2%
Asian alone 78 0.4%
American Indian / Alaska Native alone 42 0.2%
Native Hawaiian / Pacific Islander alone 21 0.1%
Some other race alone 509 2.9%
Two or more races 659 3.7%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 1,005 5.7%

U.S. Census ACS 2023

Age distribution

Median age 46.5

Under 18 2,570 14.6%
18–24 1,568 8.9%
25–44 4,325 24.5%
45–64 5,121 29.0%
65 and over 4,059 23.0%

U.S. Census ACS 2023

Economic context

Local economy

Unemployment (12-mo): 3.8%; -0.01 pp vs. state
County GDP: $890.3M; 0.11% of state
Avg. annual pay: $44,456
Establishments: 698

U.S. BLS 2026M02 · U.S. BEA 2024 · BLS QCEW 2024

Top employment sectors

Average annual employment by supersector

Leisure & hospitality 1,832 25.5%
Education & health services 1,324 18.4%
Trade, transportation & utilities 1,136 15.8%
Public administration 873 12.1%
Construction 655 9.1%
Professional & business services 605 8.4%
Other services 297 4.1%
Natural resources & mining 164 2.3%
Manufacturing 75 1.0%
Information 3 0.0%

BLS QCEW 2024

Housing

Home ownership: 80.0%
Median gross rent: $791
Owner-occupied: 5,245
Renter-occupied: 1,314

U.S. Census ACS 2023

Political composition

Presidential results

2024 presidential · 9,468 votes cast

Republican 7,181 75.8%
Democratic 2,220 23.4%
Other / third-party 67 0.7%

Election results 2024

Languages, households, faith & health

Languages spoken at home

95.0% speak only English at home

Spanish 697 4.1%
Other Indo-European 69 0.4%
Slavic languages 40 0.2%
French (incl. Cajun) 14 0.1%
Other 14 0.1%
Arabic 11 0.1%
German 4 0.0%
Other Asian/Pacific 2 0.0%
Chinese 1 0.0%

U.S. Census ACS 2023

Household composition

Households: 6,559
Family households: 4,269; 65.1% of households
Married w/ children: 3,521
Single-mother households: 202
Veterans: 1,084; 7.2% of civilians 18+

U.S. Census ACS 2023

Religious composition

45.6% overall adherence rate

Evangelical Protestant 5,350 30.0%
Catholic 1,200 6.7%
Mainline Protestant 1,083 6.1%
Black Protestant 246 1.4%
Other (non-Christian + minor traditions) 245 1.4%

US Religion Census 2020

Health & education

Health insured: 85.9%
With a disability: 18.1%
Bachelor's or higher: 21.9%

U.S. Census ACS 2023

Court infrastructure

Trial court: 35th 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: Bakersville, Boone, Burnsville, Marshall, Newland

Court reference

Traffic safety context

North Carolina statewide totals, 2023 — not county-specific

Traffic fatalities: 4; 26.54 per 100k drivers
Fatal crashes: 4

NHTSA FARS 2023