McDowell County, North Carolina

• White (non-Hispanic) 38,364 85.6%
• Hispanic or Latino (any race) 3,170 7.1%
• Black or African American (non-Hispanic) 1,724 3.8%
• Asian (non-Hispanic) 506 1.1%
• Two or more races (non-Hispanic) 908 2.0%
• American Indian / Alaska Native (non-Hispanic) 138 0.3%
• Native Hawaiian / Pacific Islander (non-Hispanic) 0 0.0%
• Some other race (non-Hispanic) 7 0.0%

• Under 18 8,692 19.4%
• 18–24 3,212 7.2%
• 25–44 10,939 24.4%
• 45–64 12,573 28.1%
• 65 and over 9,401 21.0%

Median household income

$57,124

90% interval $52,429–$61,819

−$16,931 vs NC · 73rd of 100

Below poverty line

15.5%

90% interval 12.6%–18.4%

+2.9 pp vs NC · 42nd of 100

Unemployment (12-mo)

3.9%

+0.11 pp vs. state

County GDP

$2.8B

0.33% of state

Avg. annual pay

$48,681

Establishments

931

• Manufacturing 4,980 32.4%
• Education & health services 2,776 18.0%
• Trade, transportation & utilities 2,720 17.7%
• Leisure & hospitality 1,277 8.3%
• Public administration 1,154 7.5%
• Professional & business services 852 5.5%
• Construction 740 4.8%
• Other services 463 3.0%
• Financial activities 245 1.6%
• Natural resources & mining 142 0.9%
• Information 42 0.3%

Home ownership

75.6%

+9.0 pp vs NC · 33rd of 100

Median gross rent

$806

−$422 vs NC · 72nd of 100

Owner-occupied

14,088

Renter-occupied

4,550

• Concentrated

  Top three sectors employ 68% of the county workforce. Most panelists likely share employer relationships within these sectors, surface those connections early in voir dire before any institutional-defendant or sector-specific framing.

• Moderate wage spread

  Highest-paid sector (Construction, $64,808/yr) pays 2.9× the lowest (Leisure & hospitality, $22,485/yr). Expect meaningful income variation across the panel.

• Mixed business scale

  Average establishment employs 17 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 17,520 74.2%
• Democratic 5,911 25.0%
• Other / third-party 169 0.7%

• Spanish 2,411 5.6%
• Vietnamese 178 0.4%
• German or other West Germanic 174 0.4%
• Tagalog 140 0.3%
• French, Haitian, or Cajun 11 0.0%

Households

18,638

Family households

12,725

68.3% of households

Married couples w/ children

2,974

23.4% of families

Single-mother families

1,150

9.0% of families

Veterans

2,760

7.6% of civilians 18+

• Evangelical Protestant 14,495 32.5%
• Mainline Protestant 2,384 5.3%
• Catholic 1,947 4.4%
• Other (non-Christian + minor traditions) 794 1.8%
• Black Protestant 574 1.3%

Health insured

88.5%

±1.5 pp

Uninsured

11.5%

±1.5 pp

26th of 100

With a disability

17.8%

±1.5 pp

37th of 100

Bachelor's or higher

18.1%

±1.7 pp

−17.6 pp vs NC · 74th of 100

Uninsured, under 65 (2024)

12.0%

90% interval 10.7%–13.3% · Census SAHIE

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

Trial court

41st 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

Marion, Rutherfordton

This judicial district spans multiple counties.

Traffic fatalities

6

16.61 per 100k adults (18+)

Fatal crashes

6