North Carolina’s population has grown by 848,000 new residents, or 8.9%, since the 2010 Census, rising to 10.4 million residents as of 2018. The state’s annual growth slowed during the Great Recession of 2008 and subsequent recovery period but began to accelerate mid-decade. Since 2015, North Carolina has averaged more than 110,000 new residents each year. Most of this growth is from net migration, meaning more people are moving to our state than those who move away.
To put that in perspective, three of every four new residents added to North Carolina since 2015 came from net migration. In 2017, the state grew by 113,000 new residents. Of these, 26,000 came from more births than deaths. The state gained 87,000 new residents from net migration—nearly 368,000 individuals moved into North Carolina that year, meaning another 281,000 moved away. Where are our new residents moving from?
Originally published Oct. 3, 2019.