Wake County, North Carolina

• White (non-Hispanic) 662,267 56.2%
• Hispanic or Latino (any race) 136,184 11.6%
• Black or African American (non-Hispanic) 217,692 18.5%
• Asian (non-Hispanic) 100,413 8.5%
• Two or more races (non-Hispanic) 52,203 4.4%
• American Indian / Alaska Native (non-Hispanic) 1,768 0.2%
• Native Hawaiian / Pacific Islander (non-Hispanic) 308 0.0%
• Some other race (non-Hispanic) 7,818 0.7%

• Under 18 271,179 23.0%
• 18–24 104,796 8.9%
• 25–44 350,252 29.7%
• 45–64 300,506 25.5%
• 65 and over 151,920 12.9%

Median household income

$107,083

90% interval $104,057–$110,109

+$33,028 vs NC · 2nd of 100

Below poverty line

8.6%

90% interval 7.8%–9.4%

−4.0 pp vs NC · 95th of 100

Unemployment (12-mo)

3.2%

−0.58 pp vs. state

County GDP

$128.4B

15.21% of state

Avg. annual pay

$81,099

Establishments

49,283

• Professional & business services 141,249 21.2%
• Education & health services 132,418 19.9%
• Trade, transportation & utilities 115,557 17.4%
• Leisure & hospitality 71,832 10.8%
• Public administration 47,438 7.1%
• Construction 45,166 6.8%
• Financial activities 40,262 6.0%
• Information 24,774 3.7%
• Manufacturing 24,053 3.6%
• Other services 21,685 3.3%
• Natural resources & mining 1,312 0.2%
• Unclassified 29 0.0%

Home ownership

64.1%

−2.5 pp vs NC · 81st of 100

Median gross rent

$1,623

+$395 vs NC · 2nd of 100

Owner-occupied

295,069

Renter-occupied

165,106

• Moderately concentrated

  Top three sectors employ 58% of the county workforce. Substantial intra-sector overlap among panelists is likely; confirm employer relationships before sector-specific framing.

• Wide wage spread

  Highest-paid sector (Information, $156,956/yr) pays 5.4× the lowest (Leisure & hospitality, $29,001/yr). Stark intra-economy class divisions on the panel; calibrate damages and lost-wages framing to that range.

• Mixed business scale

  Average establishment employs 14 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 402,984 61.9%
• Republican 236,735 36.4%
• Other / third-party 11,077 1.7%

• Spanish 94,094 8.5%
• Chinese 11,586 1.0%
• Arabic 10,357 0.9%
• French, Haitian, or Cajun 6,941 0.6%
• Russian, Polish, or other Slavic 6,460 0.6%
• Vietnamese 5,777 0.5%
• Korean 4,483 0.4%
• German or other West Germanic 3,468 0.3%
• Tagalog 2,747 0.2%

Households

460,175

Family households

299,655

65.1% of households

Married couples w/ children

107,468

35.9% of families

Single-mother families

24,861

8.3% of families

Veterans

51,127

5.6% of civilians 18+

• Evangelical Protestant 218,711 19.4%
• Catholic 151,646 13.4%
• Mainline Protestant 90,944 8.1%
• Other (non-Christian + minor traditions) 85,938 7.6%
• Black Protestant 33,174 2.9%
• Orthodox 4,345 0.4%

Health insured

92.5%

±0.3 pp

Uninsured

7.5%

±0.3 pp

95th of 100

With a disability

9.1%

±0.2 pp

99th of 100

Bachelor's or higher

57.2%

±0.7 pp

+21.5 pp vs NC · 2nd of 100

Uninsured, under 65 (2024)

7.2%

90% interval 6.7%–7.7% · Census SAHIE

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

Trial court

10th Judicial District Superior Court

Judges

6 (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

Raleigh

Traffic fatalities

83

9.15 per 100k adults (18+)

Fatal crashes

76