Wayne County, North Carolina

• White (non-Hispanic) 59,511 50.2%
• Hispanic or Latino (any race) 16,280 13.7%
• Black or African American (non-Hispanic) 35,089 29.6%
• Asian (non-Hispanic) 1,403 1.2%
• Two or more races (non-Hispanic) 5,830 4.9%
• American Indian / Alaska Native (non-Hispanic) 76 0.1%
• Native Hawaiian / Pacific Islander (non-Hispanic) 110 0.1%
• Some other race (non-Hispanic) 353 0.3%

• Under 18 28,014 23.6%
• 18–24 11,516 9.7%
• 25–44 30,168 25.4%
• 45–64 28,692 24.2%
• 65 and over 20,262 17.1%

Median household income

$59,786

90% interval $56,291–$63,281

−$14,269 vs NC · 60th of 100

Below poverty line

19.3%

90% interval 17.0%–21.6%

+6.7 pp vs NC · 20th of 100

Unemployment (12-mo)

3.9%

+0.15 pp vs. state

County GDP

$6.8B

0.8% of state

Avg. annual pay

$50,216

Establishments

2,465

• Education & health services 10,557 25.7%
• Trade, transportation & utilities 8,928 21.7%
• Manufacturing 5,413 13.2%
• Leisure & hospitality 4,576 11.1%
• Public administration 3,021 7.4%
• Professional & business services 2,538 6.2%
• Construction 2,517 6.1%
• Financial activities 1,409 3.4%
• Natural resources & mining 1,035 2.5%
• Information 5 0.0%
• Other services 1 0.0%

The sectors listed cover 97.4% of covered employment; BLS withholds the rest to avoid disclosing individual employers.

Home ownership

61.5%

−5.1 pp vs NC · 89th of 100

Median gross rent

$965

−$263 vs NC · 44th of 100

Owner-occupied

29,195

Renter-occupied

18,312

• Moderately concentrated

  Top three sectors employ 61% 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 (Construction, $74,707/yr) pays 3.7× the lowest (Leisure & hospitality, $20,441/yr). Expect meaningful income variation across the panel.

• Mixed business scale

  Average establishment employs 17 workers, a mix of institutional employers and small businesses. Both employed-by-large-institution and small-business-owner perspectives are likely on the panel.

• Republican 31,580 57.8%
• Democratic 22,618 41.4%
• Other / third-party 469 0.9%

• Spanish 13,579 12.2%
• French, Haitian, or Cajun 840 0.8%
• German or other West Germanic 201 0.2%
• Korean 157 0.1%
• Arabic 155 0.1%
• Chinese 131 0.1%
• Tagalog 117 0.1%
• Vietnamese 107 0.1%
• Russian, Polish, or other Slavic 29 0.0%

Households

47,507

Family households

31,687

66.7% of households

Married couples w/ children

7,617

24.0% of families

Single-mother families

4,149

13.1% of families

Veterans

9,996

11.5% of civilians 18+

• Evangelical Protestant 29,639 25.3%
• Mainline Protestant 9,050 7.7%
• Catholic 8,193 7.0%
• Black Protestant 6,037 5.1%
• Other (non-Christian + minor traditions) 3,982 3.4%

Health insured

87.9%

±1 pp

Uninsured

12.1%

±1 pp

22nd of 100

With a disability

15.5%

±0.8 pp

68th of 100

Bachelor's or higher

21.7%

±1.3 pp

−14.0 pp vs NC · 57th of 100

Uninsured, under 65 (2024)

12.5%

90% interval 11.3%–13.7% · Census SAHIE

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

Trial court

9th 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

Goldsboro, Kinston, Snow Hill

This judicial district spans multiple counties.

Traffic fatalities

21

23.17 per 100k adults (18+)

Fatal crashes

20