Jury Pool Profile

Polk County, North Carolina

Republican +25 (2024)

Population: 19,689
Median household income: $61,005
Unemployment: 3.5%

Who sits on a jury?

Race & ethnicity

White alone 17,269 87.7%
Black or African American alone 1,002 5.1%
Asian alone 20 0.1%
American Indian / Alaska Native alone 46 0.2%
Native Hawaiian / Pacific Islander alone 0 0.0%
Some other race alone 120 0.6%
Two or more races 1,232 6.3%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 1,075 5.5%

U.S. Census ACS 2023

Age distribution

Median age 54.4

Under 18 3,066 15.6%
18–24 1,057 5.4%
25–44 3,669 18.6%
45–64 5,585 28.4%
65 and over 6,312 32.1%

U.S. Census ACS 2023

Economic context

Local economy

Unemployment (12-mo): 3.5%; -0.3 pp vs. state
County GDP: $734.5M; 0.09% of state
Avg. annual pay: $46,331
Establishments: 707

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

Top employment sectors

Average annual employment by supersector

Education & health services 1,907 35.0%
Leisure & hospitality 849 15.6%
Trade, transportation & utilities 611 11.2%
Professional & business services 543 10.0%
Public administration 430 7.9%
Manufacturing 364 6.7%
Construction 299 5.5%
Financial activities 142 2.6%
Other services 142 2.6%
Natural resources & mining 107 2.0%
Information 47 0.9%

BLS QCEW 2024

Housing

Home ownership: 76.6%
Median gross rent: $1,089
Owner-occupied: 6,689
Renter-occupied: 2,038

U.S. Census ACS 2023

Political composition

Presidential results

2024 presidential · 13,032 votes cast

Republican 8,107 62.2%
Democratic 4,827 37.0%
Other / third-party 98 0.8%

Election results 2024

Languages, households, faith & health

Languages spoken at home

92.7% speak only English at home

Spanish 1,046 5.5%
German 249 1.3%
Other 37 0.2%
French (incl. Cajun) 36 0.2%
Vietnamese 8 0.0%
Other Indo-European 7 0.0%
Other Asian/Pacific 5 0.0%

U.S. Census ACS 2023

Household composition

Households: 8,727
Family households: 5,442; 62.4% of households
Married w/ children: 4,567
Single-mother households: 323
Veterans: 1,462; 8.8% of civilians 18+

U.S. Census ACS 2023

Religious composition

50.3% overall adherence rate

Evangelical Protestant 4,869 25.2%
Catholic 1,937 10.0%
Mainline Protestant 1,671 8.6%
Black Protestant 964 5.0%
Other (non-Christian + minor traditions) 287 1.5%

US Religion Census 2020

Health & education

Health insured: 90.3%
With a disability: 17.4%
Bachelor's or higher: 32.9%

U.S. Census ACS 2023

Court infrastructure

Trial court: 42nd 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: Brevard, Columbus, Hendersonville

Court reference

Traffic safety context

North Carolina statewide totals, 2023 — not county-specific

Traffic fatalities: 5; 30.08 per 100k drivers
Fatal crashes: 5

NHTSA FARS 2023