Yancey County, North Carolina

• White (non-Hispanic) 17,068 90.8%
• Hispanic or Latino (any race) 1,091 5.8%
• Black or African American (non-Hispanic) 153 0.8%
• Asian (non-Hispanic) 86 0.5%
• Two or more races (non-Hispanic) 376 2.0%
• American Indian / Alaska Native (non-Hispanic) 14 0.1%
• Native Hawaiian / Pacific Islander (non-Hispanic) 0 0.0%
• Some other race (non-Hispanic) 9 0.0%

• Under 18 3,379 18.0%
• 18–24 1,117 5.9%
• 25–44 4,000 21.3%
• 45–64 5,216 27.7%
• 65 and over 5,085 27.1%

Median household income

$62,198

90% interval $55,748–$68,648

−$11,857 vs NC · 51st of 100

Below poverty line

14.5%

90% interval 11.1%–17.9%

+1.9 pp vs NC · 50th of 100

Unemployment (12-mo)

3.5%

−0.3 pp vs. state

County GDP

$605.1M

0.07% of state

Avg. annual pay

$50,621

Establishments

480

• Manufacturing 1,400 28.4%
• Trade, transportation & utilities 863 17.5%
• Education & health services 838 17.0%
• Leisure & hospitality 464 9.4%
• Public administration 435 8.8%
• Construction 378 7.7%
• Professional & business services 204 4.1%
• Other services 142 2.9%
• Financial activities 102 2.1%
• Natural resources & mining 72 1.5%
• Information 28 0.6%

Home ownership

79.4%

+12.8 pp vs NC · 17th of 100

Median gross rent

$882

−$346 vs NC · 53rd of 100

Owner-occupied

6,457

Renter-occupied

1,673

• Moderately concentrated

  Top three sectors employ 63% of the county workforce. Substantial intra-sector overlap among panelists is likely; confirm employer relationships before sector-specific framing.

• Compressed wage spread

  Highest-paid sector pays only 2.2× the lowest ($64,557 vs $28,994/yr), a relatively flat local wage distribution.

• Mixed business scale

  Average establishment employs 10 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 7,509 66.8%
• Democratic 3,635 32.3%
• Other / third-party 103 0.9%

• Spanish 803 4.5%
• Russian, Polish, or other Slavic 77 0.4%
• German or other West Germanic 31 0.2%
• French, Haitian, or Cajun 29 0.2%
• Chinese 4 0.0%
• Tagalog 1 0.0%

Households

8,130

Family households

5,588

68.7% of households

Married couples w/ children

1,509

27.0% of families

Single-mother families

289

5.2% of families

Veterans

1,031

6.7% of civilians 18+

• Evangelical Protestant 4,892 26.5%
• Mainline Protestant 1,257 6.8%
• Catholic 737 4.0%
• Black Protestant 256 1.4%
• Other (non-Christian + minor traditions) 178 1.0%

Health insured

92.8%

±1.5 pp

Uninsured

7.2%

±1.5 pp

96th of 100

With a disability

18.9%

±2.1 pp

26th of 100

Bachelor's or higher

25.1%

±2.8 pp

−10.6 pp vs NC · 44th of 100

Uninsured, under 65 (2024)

11.8%

90% interval 10.4%–13.2% · Census SAHIE

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

Trial court

35th Judicial District Superior Court

Judges

2 (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

This judicial district spans multiple counties.

Traffic fatalities

2

12.97 per 100k adults (18+)

Fatal crashes

2