Jury Pool Profile

McDowell County, North Carolina

Republican +49 (2024)

Population: 44,679
Median household income: $55,527
Unemployment: 4.2%

Who sits on a jury?

Race & ethnicity

White alone 39,523 88.5%
Black or African American alone 1,730 3.9%
Asian alone 483 1.1%
American Indian / Alaska Native alone 197 0.4%
Native Hawaiian / Pacific Islander alone 0 0.0%
Some other race alone 937 2.1%
Two or more races 1,809 4.0%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 3,028 6.8%

U.S. Census ACS 2023

Age distribution

Median age 44.3

Under 18 8,818 19.7%
18–24 3,173 7.1%
25–44 10,804 24.2%
45–64 12,627 28.3%
65 and over 9,257 20.7%

U.S. Census ACS 2023

Economic context

Local economy

Unemployment (12-mo): 4.2%; +0.39 pp vs. state
County GDP: $2.8B; 0.33% of state
Avg. annual pay: $47,365
Establishments: 970

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

Top employment sectors

Average annual employment by supersector

Manufacturing 4,994 32.5%
Education & health services 2,768 18.0%
Trade, transportation & utilities 2,734 17.8%
Leisure & hospitality 1,309 8.5%
Public administration 1,159 7.6%
Professional & business services 772 5.0%
Construction 692 4.5%
Other services 449 2.9%
Financial activities 273 1.8%
Natural resources & mining 155 1.0%
Information 43 0.3%
Unclassified 2 0.0%

BLS QCEW 2024

Housing

Home ownership: 74.0%
Median gross rent: $741
Owner-occupied: 13,657
Renter-occupied: 4,788

U.S. Census ACS 2023

Political composition

Presidential results

2024 presidential · 23,600 votes cast

Republican 17,520 74.2%
Democratic 5,911 25.0%
Other / third-party 169 0.7%

Election results 2024

Languages, households, faith & health

Languages spoken at home

92.4% speak only English at home

Spanish 2,443 5.7%
German 178 0.4%
Vietnamese 161 0.4%
Tagalog 156 0.4%
Other Asian/Pacific 136 0.3%
Other Indo-European 100 0.2%
Other 47 0.1%
French (incl. Cajun) 20 0.0%

U.S. Census ACS 2023

Household composition

Households: 18,445
Family households: 12,868; 69.8% of households
Married w/ children: 9,737
Single-mother households: 1,172
Veterans: 2,778; 7.7% of civilians 18+

U.S. Census ACS 2023

Religious composition

45.3% overall adherence rate

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%

US Religion Census 2020

Health & education

Health insured: 88.3%
With a disability: 17.3%
Bachelor's or higher: 17.6%

U.S. Census ACS 2023

Court infrastructure

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

Court reference

Traffic safety context

North Carolina statewide totals, 2023 — not county-specific

Traffic fatalities: 8; 22.31 per 100k drivers
Fatal crashes: 7

NHTSA FARS 2023