New Hanover County, North Carolina

• White (non-Hispanic) 175,818 74.7%
• Hispanic or Latino (any race) 18,547 7.9%
• Black or African American (non-Hispanic) 25,279 10.7%
• Asian (non-Hispanic) 3,194 1.4%
• Two or more races (non-Hispanic) 10,742 4.6%
• American Indian / Alaska Native (non-Hispanic) 293 0.1%
• Native Hawaiian / Pacific Islander (non-Hispanic) 42 0.0%
• Some other race (non-Hispanic) 1,314 0.6%

• Under 18 42,122 17.9%
• 18–24 28,853 12.3%
• 25–44 60,363 25.7%
• 45–64 59,081 25.1%
• 65 and over 44,810 19.0%

Median household income

$77,098

90% interval $72,405–$81,791

+$3,043 vs NC · 19th of 100

Below poverty line

11.7%

90% interval 9.9%–13.5%

−0.9 pp vs NC · 79th of 100

Unemployment (12-mo)

3.4%

−0.4 pp vs. state

County GDP

$21.0B

2.49% of state

Avg. annual pay

$65,281

Establishments

11,000

• Education & health services 32,950 25.0%
• Trade, transportation & utilities 24,575 18.7%
• Leisure & hospitality 20,132 15.3%
• Professional & business services 18,765 14.2%
• Construction 9,488 7.2%
• Financial activities 7,156 5.4%
• Public administration 5,636 4.3%
• Other services 4,719 3.6%
• Information 5 0.0%

The sectors listed cover 93.7% of covered employment; BLS withholds the rest to avoid disclosing individual employers.

Home ownership

61.4%

−5.2 pp vs NC · 90th of 100

Median gross rent

$1,417

+$189 vs NC · 6th of 100

Owner-occupied

64,383

Renter-occupied

40,473

• Moderately concentrated

  Top three sectors employ 59% 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 (Financial activities, $94,603/yr) pays 3.5× the lowest (Leisure & hospitality, $26,850/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.

• Democratic 68,814 49.8%
• Republican 67,949 49.2%
• Other / third-party 1,480 1.1%

• Spanish 12,059 5.4%
• Korean 706 0.3%
• French, Haitian, or Cajun 663 0.3%
• German or other West Germanic 541 0.2%
• Chinese 534 0.2%
• Russian, Polish, or other Slavic 498 0.2%
• Arabic 361 0.2%
• Vietnamese 264 0.1%
• Tagalog 172 0.1%

Households

104,856

Family households

57,814

55.1% of households

Married couples w/ children

15,339

26.5% of families

Single-mother families

5,182

9.0% of families

Veterans

13,192

6.9% of civilians 18+

• Evangelical Protestant 41,424 18.4%
• Catholic 32,119 14.2%
• Mainline Protestant 23,078 10.2%
• Black Protestant 10,095 4.5%
• Other (non-Christian + minor traditions) 7,500 3.3%
• Orthodox 800 0.4%

Health insured

90.4%

±0.9 pp

Uninsured

9.6%

±0.9 pp

57th of 100

With a disability

12.1%

±0.6 pp

92nd of 100

Bachelor's or higher

45.4%

±1.3 pp

+9.7 pp vs NC · 8th of 100

Uninsured, under 65 (2024)

8.9%

90% interval 8.1%–9.7% · Census SAHIE

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

Trial court

6th Judicial District Superior Court

Judges

3 (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

Burgaw, Wilmington

This judicial district spans multiple counties.

Traffic fatalities

29

15.02 per 100k adults (18+)

Fatal crashes

27