Jury Pool Profile

Watauga County, North Carolina

Democratic +6 (2024)

Population: 54,607
Median household income: $51,367
Unemployment: 3.5%

Who sits on a jury?

Race & ethnicity

White alone 49,334 90.3%
Black or African American alone 1,194 2.2%
Asian alone 664 1.2%
American Indian / Alaska Native alone 201 0.4%
Native Hawaiian / Pacific Islander alone 0 0.0%
Some other race alone 702 1.3%
Two or more races 2,512 4.6%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 3,303 6.0%

U.S. Census ACS 2023

Age distribution

Median age 32.2

Under 18 6,769 12.4%
18–24 16,643 30.5%
25–44 10,678 19.6%
45–64 11,379 20.8%
65 and over 9,138 16.7%

U.S. Census ACS 2023

Economic context

Local economy

Unemployment (12-mo): 3.5%; -0.31 pp vs. state
County GDP: $3.2B; 0.38% of state
Avg. annual pay: $48,024
Establishments: 2,018

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

Top employment sectors

Average annual employment by supersector

Education & health services 8,752 34.9%
Leisure & hospitality 5,237 20.9%
Trade, transportation & utilities 4,457 17.8%
Professional & business services 2,131 8.5%
Construction 1,082 4.3%
Financial activities 1,061 4.2%
Public administration 975 3.9%
Other services 675 2.7%
Manufacturing 482 1.9%
Information 179 0.7%
Natural resources & mining 75 0.3%

BLS QCEW 2024

Housing

Home ownership: 61.2%
Median gross rent: $1,066
Owner-occupied: 12,962
Renter-occupied: 8,225

U.S. Census ACS 2023

Political composition

Presidential results

2024 presidential · 32,934 votes cast

Democratic 17,225 52.3%
Republican 15,254 46.3%
Other / third-party 455 1.4%

Election results 2024

Languages, households, faith & health

Languages spoken at home

94.0% speak only English at home

Spanish 2,026 3.8%
Slavic languages 305 0.6%
Other Indo-European 281 0.5%
Vietnamese 128 0.2%
Korean 116 0.2%
Other Asian/Pacific 110 0.2%
German 60 0.1%
Arabic 54 0.1%
French (incl. Cajun) 51 0.1%
Other 40 0.1%
Chinese 28 0.1%
Tagalog 5 0.0%

U.S. Census ACS 2023

Household composition

Households: 21,187
Family households: 10,745; 50.7% of households
Married w/ children: 9,068
Single-mother households: 576
Veterans: 2,151; 4.5% of civilians 18+

U.S. Census ACS 2023

Religious composition

42.9% overall adherence rate

Evangelical Protestant 13,803 25.5%
Mainline Protestant 5,852 10.8%
Catholic 1,956 3.6%
Other (non-Christian + minor traditions) 829 1.5%
Black Protestant 700 1.3%
Orthodox 55 0.1%

US Religion Census 2020

Health & education

Health insured: 89.3%
With a disability: 11.9%
Bachelor's or higher: 47.7%

U.S. Census ACS 2023

Court infrastructure

Trial court: 35th 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: Bakersville, Boone, Burnsville, Marshall, Newland

Court reference

Traffic safety context

North Carolina statewide totals, 2023 — not county-specific

Traffic fatalities: 5; 10.45 per 100k drivers
Fatal crashes: 5

NHTSA FARS 2023