Recently released data from the 2020 U.S. Census shows a substantial population increase in North Carolina, with the state topping 10 million residents for the first time.

Rebecca Tippett, the founding director of Carolina Demography, said the biggest takeaway of the 2020 census is that North Carolina’s growth has been concentrated in the state’s urban areas.

“You can really see how much that growth has been heavily concentrated in cities and suburbs,” Tippett said. “And with some of that growth also occurring around the Triad and Asheville, but really heavily around Charlotte, the Triangle and Wilmington.”

Between 2010 and 2020, North Carolina’s population grew by more than 903,000 individuals – an increase of 9.5 percent. Tippett said this is faster than the national growth rate of 7.3 percent.

“The country overall grew more slowly than the state did,” Tippett said. “And within the state, when we’re looking at the Triangle – you’re looking at Wake and Durham – they grew more than twice as quickly as the state overall. So, [the population] increased by 25 percent in Wake County over the decade, 20 percent in Durham and comparable rates in Chatham as compared to the state’s growth rate of 9.5 percent.”

Orange County also outpaced that state’s overall growth rate, with a population increase of 11 percent from 2010. Tippett said most of this growth, however, isn’t stemming from more North Carolinians being born.

Over the past 10 years, North Carolina’s child population only grew by 0.1 percent while the states adult population grew by 12.4 percent. Nationally, the child population shrank by 1.1 million while the adult population grew by 23.8 million.

Breaking down the demographics of North Carolina’s growth even further, census data shows that the share of individuals identifying as Hispanic or Latino increased substantially in the last decade. Tippet said that population now accounts for more than one million residents.

“The Black population remains another large population, but our Asian population grew the fastest of the major racial, ethnic groups over the decade,” Tippett said. “About 65 percent growth compared to 40 percent among the Hispanic population.”

Population counts from the census are used to determine the number of seats each state has in the U.S. House of Representatives. Based on recent growth, North Carolina will now receive a 14th seat in the house.

Tippett said data is also used for redistricting at the national, state, and local level. This means highly populated areas like the Triangle may soon be subject to redistricting as opposed to lesser populated, more rural areas in the state.

“We know that, because the growth was so heavily concentrated here and we had 51 counties lose population, there are going to be more districts that need to be drawn in the Triangle,” Tippett said.

You can learn more about the 2020 U.S. Census results here.

Lead photo via AP/Paul Sancya.

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