Johnston County, North Carolina

• White (non-Hispanic) 143,892 61.4%
• Hispanic or Latino (any race) 39,336 16.8%
• Black or African American (non-Hispanic) 39,214 16.7%
• Asian (non-Hispanic) 1,936 0.8%
• Two or more races (non-Hispanic) 8,244 3.5%
• American Indian / Alaska Native (non-Hispanic) 514 0.2%
• Native Hawaiian / Pacific Islander (non-Hispanic) 43 0.0%
• Some other race (non-Hispanic) 1,084 0.5%

• Under 18 58,336 24.9%
• 18–24 18,942 8.1%
• 25–44 62,531 26.7%
• 45–64 62,306 26.6%
• 65 and over 32,148 13.7%

Median household income

$88,688

90% interval $85,257–$92,119

+$14,633 vs NC · 7th of 100

Below poverty line

9.6%

90% interval 7.7%–11.5%

−3.0 pp vs NC · 91st of 100

Unemployment (12-mo)

3.1%

−0.6 pp vs. state

County GDP

$11.6B

1.37% of state

Avg. annual pay

$56,109

Establishments

5,428

• Trade, transportation & utilities 15,302 23.3%
• Education & health services 13,439 20.5%
• Manufacturing 8,585 13.1%
• Leisure & hospitality 7,630 11.6%
• Professional & business services 6,992 10.7%
• Public administration 3,284 5.0%
• Financial activities 1,793 2.7%
• Other services 1,449 2.2%
• Information 16 0.0%

The sectors listed cover 89.2% of covered employment; BLS withholds the rest to avoid disclosing individual employers.

Home ownership

76.1%

+9.5 pp vs NC · 32nd of 100

Median gross rent

$1,146

−$82 vs NC · 24th of 100

Owner-occupied

65,092

Renter-occupied

20,499

• 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.

• Wide wage spread

  Highest-paid sector (Manufacturing, $91,920/yr) pays 4.2× the lowest (Leisure & hospitality, $22,031/yr). Stark intra-economy class divisions on the panel; calibrate damages and lost-wages framing to that range.

• 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 74,878 60.2%
• Democratic 48,116 38.7%
• Other / third-party 1,366 1.1%

• Spanish 29,932 13.6%
• Arabic 947 0.4%
• Russian, Polish, or other Slavic 476 0.2%
• German or other West Germanic 427 0.2%
• French, Haitian, or Cajun 322 0.1%
• Tagalog 318 0.1%
• Vietnamese 133 0.1%
• Korean 99 0.0%
• Chinese 57 0.0%

Households

85,591

Family households

61,680

72.1% of households

Married couples w/ children

21,189

34.4% of families

Single-mother families

4,713

7.6% of families

Veterans

13,032

7.4% of civilians 18+

• Evangelical Protestant 40,426 18.7%
• Catholic 21,067 9.8%
• Mainline Protestant 11,717 5.4%
• Other (non-Christian + minor traditions) 7,691 3.6%
• Black Protestant 3,245 1.5%

Health insured

89.6%

±0.8 pp

Uninsured

10.4%

±0.8 pp

43rd of 100

With a disability

13.0%

±0.9 pp

84th of 100

Bachelor's or higher

28.9%

±1.2 pp

−6.8 pp vs NC · 28th of 100

Uninsured, under 65 (2024)

10.5%

90% interval 9.6%–11.4% · Census SAHIE

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

Trial court

13th Judicial District Superior Court

Judges

2 (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

Smithfield

Traffic fatalities

40

22.74 per 100k adults (18+)

Fatal crashes

34