Pender County, North Carolina

• White (non-Hispanic) 48,528 74.0%
• Hispanic or Latino (any race) 5,787 8.8%
• Black or African American (non-Hispanic) 7,945 12.1%
• Asian (non-Hispanic) 454 0.7%
• Two or more races (non-Hispanic) 2,398 3.7%
• American Indian / Alaska Native (non-Hispanic) 128 0.2%
• Native Hawaiian / Pacific Islander (non-Hispanic) 0 0.0%
• Some other race (non-Hispanic) 310 0.5%

• Under 18 14,710 22.4%
• 18–24 4,476 6.8%
• 25–44 16,405 25.0%
• 45–64 18,027 27.5%
• 65 and over 11,932 18.2%

Median household income

$79,480

90% interval $71,852–$87,108

+$5,425 vs NC · 16th of 100

Below poverty line

10.4%

90% interval 8.1%–12.7%

−2.2 pp vs NC · 87th of 100

Unemployment (12-mo)

3.5%

−0.28 pp vs. state

County GDP

$2.5B

0.3% of state

Avg. annual pay

$50,002

Establishments

2,034

• Trade, transportation & utilities 3,424 21.3%
• Education & health services 3,238 20.1%
• Leisure & hospitality 2,515 15.6%
• Professional & business services 1,400 8.7%
• Construction 1,380 8.6%
• Public administration 1,145 7.1%
• Financial activities 705 4.4%
• Other services 552 3.4%

The sectors listed cover 89.3% of covered employment; BLS withholds the rest to avoid disclosing individual employers.

Home ownership

82.7%

+16.1 pp vs NC · 6th of 100

Median gross rent

$1,106

−$122 vs NC · 30th of 100

Owner-occupied

20,916

Renter-occupied

4,375

• 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.

• Moderate wage spread

  Highest-paid sector (Financial activities, $76,077/yr) pays 3.6× the lowest (Leisure & hospitality, $21,142/yr). Expect meaningful income variation across the panel.

• Small-business scale

  Average establishment employs only 7.9 workers, a small-business-dominated local economy. Expect more self-employed and small-business-owner panelists than in institutional-employer venues.

• Republican 26,042 67.1%
• Democratic 12,460 32.1%
• Other / third-party 335 0.9%

• Spanish 4,194 6.8%
• Russian, Polish, or other Slavic 135 0.2%
• German or other West Germanic 108 0.2%
• Tagalog 52 0.1%
• French, Haitian, or Cajun 38 0.1%
• Arabic 23 0.0%
• Chinese 18 0.0%
• Korean 11 0.0%

Households

25,291

Family households

17,068

67.5% of households

Married couples w/ children

5,537

32.4% of families

Single-mother families

1,036

6.1% of families

Veterans

4,726

9.4% of civilians 18+

• Evangelical Protestant 9,866 16.4%
• Catholic 5,612 9.3%
• Mainline Protestant 3,651 6.1%
• Black Protestant 2,995 5.0%
• Other (non-Christian + minor traditions) 1,921 3.2%

Health insured

91.2%

±1.3 pp

Uninsured

8.8%

±1.3 pp

78th of 100

With a disability

15.3%

±1.3 pp

72nd of 100

Bachelor's or higher

30.6%

±2.3 pp

−5.1 pp vs NC · 26th of 100

Uninsured, under 65 (2024)

10.3%

90% interval 9.3%–11.3% · 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

7

13.77 per 100k adults (18+)

Fatal crashes

7