Mitchell County, North Carolina

• White (non-Hispanic) 13,643 91.0%
• Hispanic or Latino (any race) 836 5.6%
• Black or African American (non-Hispanic) 139 0.9%
• Asian (non-Hispanic) 71 0.5%
• Two or more races (non-Hispanic) 234 1.6%
• American Indian / Alaska Native (non-Hispanic) 41 0.3%
• Native Hawaiian / Pacific Islander (non-Hispanic) 0 0.0%
• Some other race (non-Hispanic) 28 0.2%

• Under 18 2,637 17.6%
• 18–24 1,137 7.6%
• 25–44 3,231 21.6%
• 45–64 4,096 27.3%
• 65 and over 3,891 26.0%

Median household income

$58,182

90% interval $52,072–$64,292

−$15,873 vs NC · 65th of 100

Below poverty line

13.5%

90% interval 10.2%–16.8%

+0.9 pp vs NC · 62nd of 100

Unemployment (12-mo)

4.0%

+0.2 pp vs. state

County GDP

$681.3M

0.08% of state

Avg. annual pay

$50,740

Establishments

423

• Education & health services 1,327 28.6%
• Trade, transportation & utilities 1,040 22.4%
• Leisure & hospitality 423 9.1%
• Public administration 331 7.1%
• Professional & business services 312 6.7%
• Other services 244 5.3%
• Construction 241 5.2%
• Information 5 0.1%
• Financial activities 4 0.1%

The sectors listed cover 84.6% of covered employment; BLS withholds the rest to avoid disclosing individual employers.

Home ownership

76.3%

+9.7 pp vs NC · 31st of 100

Median gross rent

$813

−$415 vs NC · 70th of 100

Owner-occupied

5,023

Renter-occupied

1,564

• 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.

• Compressed wage spread

  Highest-paid sector pays only 2.1× the lowest ($54,766 vs $26,356/yr), a relatively flat local wage distribution.

• Mixed business scale

  Average establishment employs 11 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 6,843 77.6%
• Democratic 1,915 21.7%
• Other / third-party 63 0.7%

• Spanish 450 3.1%
• German or other West Germanic 65 0.5%
• French, Haitian, or Cajun 44 0.3%
• Tagalog 27 0.2%
• Chinese 1 0.0%

Households

6,587

Family households

4,176

63.4% of households

Married couples w/ children

977

23.4% of families

Single-mother families

342

8.2% of families

Veterans

946

7.7% of civilians 18+

• Evangelical Protestant 9,035 60.6%
• Mainline Protestant 845 5.7%
• Black Protestant 700 4.7%
• Catholic 662 4.4%
• Other (non-Christian + minor traditions) 2 0.0%

Health insured

90.7%

±2.3 pp

Uninsured

9.3%

±2.3 pp

65th of 100

With a disability

18.9%

±2.2 pp

24th of 100

Bachelor's or higher

24.2%

±3.4 pp

−11.5 pp vs NC · 49th of 100

Uninsured, under 65 (2024)

9.6%

90% interval 8.4%–10.8% · Census SAHIE

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

Trial court

35th 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

Bakersville, Boone, Burnsville, Marshall, Newland

This judicial district spans multiple counties.

Traffic fatalities

5

40.47 per 100k adults (18+)

Fatal crashes

5