Columbus County, North Carolina

• White (non-Hispanic) 29,364 58.6%
• Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2,831 5.6%
• Black or African American (non-Hispanic) 14,048 28.0%
• Asian (non-Hispanic) 249 0.5%
• Two or more races (non-Hispanic) 1,949 3.9%
• American Indian / Alaska Native (non-Hispanic) 1,534 3.1%
• Native Hawaiian / Pacific Islander (non-Hispanic) 39 0.1%
• Some other race (non-Hispanic) 126 0.3%

• Under 18 10,334 20.6%
• 18–24 4,263 8.5%
• 25–44 11,963 23.9%
• 45–64 13,204 26.3%
• 65 and over 10,376 20.7%

Median household income

$50,741

90% interval $45,910–$55,572

−$23,314 vs NC · 92nd of 100

Below poverty line

19.3%

90% interval 15.5%–23.1%

+6.7 pp vs NC · 19th of 100

Unemployment (12-mo)

4.2%

+0.45 pp vs. state

County GDP

$1.9B

0.23% of state

Avg. annual pay

$49,052

Establishments

1,158

• Education & health services 4,141 28.9%
• Trade, transportation & utilities 2,773 19.4%
• Public administration 1,657 11.6%
• Manufacturing 1,463 10.2%
• Professional & business services 1,354 9.5%
• Leisure & hospitality 1,220 8.5%
• Financial activities 649 4.5%
• Construction 563 3.9%
• Other services 273 1.9%
• Natural resources & mining 186 1.3%
• Information 37 0.3%

Home ownership

71.1%

+4.5 pp vs NC · 60th of 100

Median gross rent

$824

−$404 vs NC · 66th of 100

Owner-occupied

14,252

Renter-occupied

5,796

• Moderately concentrated

  Top three sectors employ 60% 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 (Manufacturing, $73,839/yr) pays 3.7× the lowest (Leisure & hospitality, $20,072/yr). Expect meaningful income variation across the panel.

• Mixed business scale

  Average establishment employs 12 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 17,592 66.7%
• Democratic 8,648 32.8%
• Other / third-party 123 0.5%

• Spanish 2,348 5.0%
• Vietnamese 130 0.3%
• Tagalog 47 0.1%
• German or other West Germanic 42 0.1%
• French, Haitian, or Cajun 31 0.1%
• Arabic 27 0.1%

Households

20,048

Family households

12,681

63.3% of households

Married couples w/ children

2,781

21.9% of families

Single-mother families

1,485

11.7% of families

Veterans

2,668

6.7% of civilians 18+

• Evangelical Protestant 20,624 40.7%
• Black Protestant 3,091 6.1%
• Mainline Protestant 2,702 5.3%
• Other (non-Christian + minor traditions) 1,204 2.4%
• Catholic 938 1.9%

Health insured

87.3%

±1.8 pp

Uninsured

12.7%

±1.8 pp

14th of 100

With a disability

17.5%

±1.2 pp

41st of 100

Bachelor's or higher

14.6%

±1.6 pp

−21.1 pp vs NC · 96th of 100

Uninsured, under 65 (2024)

11.7%

90% interval 10.5%–12.9% · Census SAHIE

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

Trial court

15th 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

Bolivia, Elizabethtown, Whiteville

This judicial district spans multiple counties.

Traffic fatalities

18

45.22 per 100k adults (18+)

Fatal crashes

17