Affordable housing in Wake County, NC

By on 3.16.22 in Housing

North Carolina is experiencing rapid growth from people moving here from other states. Over the past several years, we have seen increases in both housing and rental prices as well as a shortage of available units in the Triangle region. A 2021 analysis of Chapel Hill’s housing market projects that housing production will need to increase 35 percent to meet projected job and household growth over the next 20 years. And an examination of housing across the country by…

Continue Reading »

How is Annexation Influencing Municipal Population Change?

Dr. Michael Cline is the state demographer for North Carolina at the Office of State Budget and Management and has given us permission to re-post his content here. Each year, he publishes population estimates and projections for North Carolina and its counties. Four years ago, pine trees and farmland covered most of a 270-acre area just west of Apex, North Carolina.  The land was slated to be developed into a mixed residential community with single-family…

Continue Reading »

Suburban and Exurban Growth in North Carolina’s Two Major Metro Areas

New Geography recently reported on the extent of urban growth among the United States’ 53 major metropolitan areas (defined as having more than one million residents). Findings indicate that the majority of growth has taken place outside of the urban core, within the suburban and exurban regions of the metro area. North Carolina is home to two of these fifty-three major metropolitan areas: Charlotte and Raleigh. Using Wendell Cox’s City Sector Model, we explored the…

Continue Reading »

NC in Focus: Home ownership among young adults

By on 6.16.16 in Housing

“The US homeownership rate reached 63.4% in the second quarter of 2015, the lowest level in almost fifty years. The homeownership rate is especially low among millennials, and continues to decline each quarter. There are many factors affecting this trend – rising rents, student loans, and delayed marriages, for example – making it difficult to forecast trends in millennial homeownership… Our research suggests that affordability is the biggest barrier to homeownership, with 77% of millennials…

Continue Reading »

NC in Focus: Young Adults Living at Home

“In 2014, for the first time in more than 130 years, adults ages 18 to 34 were slightly more likely to be living in their parents’ home than they were to be living with a spouse or partner in their own household. This turn of events is fueled primarily by the dramatic drop in the share of young Americans who are choosing to settle down romantically before age 35. Dating back to 1880, the most…

Continue Reading »

NC in Focus: Vacation destinations

By on 5.17.16 in Housing

During peak summer months, communities in the Greater Topsail Beach region, such as Surf City and North Topsail Beach, see their population increase four- or five-fold, or more, as individuals head to the coast for summer vacation. The Greater Topsail region is one of many areas of the state with strong appeal as a vacation destination. North Carolina has a higher concentration of vacation homes than the nation. In 2010, 4.4% of North Carolina housing…

Continue Reading »

Tourism impacts on Dare County

For many North Carolina residents and out of state tourists, summer vacation isn’t complete without a trip to one of North Carolina’s beaches. In 2013, there were nearly 38 million overnight person-trips in North Carolina, the sixth highest number of visits among all states; 19% of these visitors went to the beach during their trip. And although North Carolina has many beautiful beaches—from the Brunswick Islands in the South to Emerald Isle and Atlantic Beach…

Continue Reading »

NC in Focus: Seasonal Housing by County

By on 7.9.15 in Housing

In the decennial census, seasonal housing units are those that are classified as vacant for “seasonal, recreational, or occasional use.” These are often referred to as vacation homes. In the 2010 Census, 3.5% of all housing units nationwide were vacation homes dedicated for seasonal use. In North Carolina, 4.4% of all housing units were for seasonal use. North Carolina had nearly 192,000 vacation homes in 2010, the 7th largest number of all the states. The…

Continue Reading »

NC in Focus: Homeownership Rates, 1976-2014

By on 3.5.15 in Housing

In the past few years, there have been many articles about declining home ownership. Nationally, the March Current Population Survey (CPS) shows that homeownership peaked at 69.2% of households in 2005 and has declined steadily since then. In the most recent data, the U.S. homeownership rate was 64.6% in 2014. This is the lowest homeownership rate since 1995, but not the lowest recorded in this data: 63.6% of U.S. households owned or were in the…

Continue Reading »

Homelessness in North Carolina: 2014 Update

By on 10.27.14 in Housing

This is an update of the 2013 data discussed in this post. The interactive map below shows data from the North Carolina Coalition to End Homelessness (NCCEH) January 2014 Point-in-Time (PIT) count data. The PIT count is a statewide, unduplicated count of homeless people that is held on one night during the last week of January each year. These individuals are literally homeless, meaning that, on the night of the count, they are either living in an…

Continue Reading »

1 2

Your support is critical to our mission of measuring, understanding, and predicting population change and its impact. Donate to Carolina Demography today.