Cherokee County, North Carolina

• White (non-Hispanic) 26,388 89.3%
• Hispanic or Latino (any race) 1,088 3.7%
• Black or African American (non-Hispanic) 527 1.8%
• Asian (non-Hispanic) 156 0.5%
• Two or more races (non-Hispanic) 1,017 3.4%
• American Indian / Alaska Native (non-Hispanic) 320 1.1%
• Native Hawaiian / Pacific Islander (non-Hispanic) 0 0.0%
• Some other race (non-Hispanic) 66 0.2%

• Under 18 4,716 16.0%
• 18–24 1,691 5.7%
• 25–44 5,399 18.3%
• 45–64 8,453 28.6%
• 65 and over 9,303 31.5%

Median household income

$55,351

90% interval $49,462–$61,240

−$18,704 vs NC · 79th of 100

Below poverty line

15.4%

90% interval 12.0%–18.8%

+2.8 pp vs NC · 43rd of 100

Unemployment (12-mo)

4.0%

+0.21 pp vs. state

County GDP

$1.2B

0.14% of state

Avg. annual pay

$47,296

Establishments

918

• Education & health services 2,100 26.7%
• Trade, transportation & utilities 1,729 22.0%
• Leisure & hospitality 1,063 13.5%
• Professional & business services 679 8.6%
• Public administration 643 8.2%
• Manufacturing 642 8.2%
• Financial activities 276 3.5%
• Information 18 0.2%

The sectors listed cover 90.9% of covered employment; BLS withholds the rest to avoid disclosing individual employers.

Home ownership

83.7%

+17.1 pp vs NC · 3rd of 100

Median gross rent

$813

−$415 vs NC · 68th of 100

Owner-occupied

11,083

Renter-occupied

2,158

• Moderately concentrated

  Top three sectors employ 62% of the county workforce. Substantial intra-sector overlap among panelists is likely; confirm employer relationships before sector-specific framing.

• Compressed wage spread

  Highest-paid sector pays only 2.3× the lowest ($56,939 vs $25,206/yr), a relatively flat local wage distribution.

• Small-business scale

  Average establishment employs only 8.6 workers, a small-business-dominated local economy. Expect more self-employed and small-business-owner panelists than in institutional-employer venues.

• Republican 13,883 78.2%
• Democratic 3,686 20.8%
• Other / third-party 179 1.0%

• Spanish 695 2.4%
• German or other West Germanic 29 0.1%
• French, Haitian, or Cajun 24 0.1%
• Tagalog 14 0.0%

Households

13,241

Family households

8,447

63.8% of households

Married couples w/ children

1,224

14.5% of families

Single-mother families

538

6.4% of families

Veterans

2,522

10.2% of civilians 18+

• Evangelical Protestant 8,385 29.1%
• Mainline Protestant 1,886 6.6%
• Catholic 1,625 5.6%
• Other (non-Christian + minor traditions) 577 2.0%
• Black Protestant 226 0.8%
• Orthodox 62 0.2%

Health insured

87.5%

±1.9 pp

Uninsured

12.5%

±1.9 pp

16th of 100

With a disability

18.0%

±1.5 pp

34th of 100

Bachelor's or higher

24.2%

±2.1 pp

−11.5 pp vs NC · 48th of 100

Uninsured, under 65 (2024)

10.6%

90% interval 9.4%–11.8% · Census SAHIE

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

Trial court

43rd 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

Bryson City, Franklin, Hayesville, Murphy, Robbinsville, Sylva, Waynesville

This judicial district spans multiple counties.

Traffic fatalities

4

16.1 per 100k adults (18+)

Fatal crashes

4