SOCIAL DEMOGRAPHICS DATABASE

Online Social Demographic County Profiles
Data sets compiled by United Way of North Carolina

Overview | Statistics

United Way of North Carolina has developed this social demographic database for use by member United Ways. The searchable database has county specific data in nine different categories: demographics, economics, education, health-children, health-disease, health-mortality, health-prenatal care, health-resources, and social and family support. The database provides a statewide rank by county for each indicator/variable. The data sets may be used to augment other data-gathering efforts and are a useful tool for United Ways as they work to improve the quality of life in the communities they serve, asses the current environment of their community as compared to other communities, in the completion of needs assessments, moving to issue based funding, and others.

The information contained in the database comes from a number of reputable federal and state sources. They sometimes use different time frames and methodologies in reporting their materials; therefore, there may not be 100% correlation among some of the numbers as given. All of the data, however, are essentially consistent.

It is important to read the numbers for each indicator closely. The following factors should be clearly understood in interpreting the tabulate information:

1. The statistical data can be shown as a percentage, raw number, or dollar value.
2. The number in the “rank” column can always be interpreted as being followed by the word “most.” In some instances, a high number (close to 100 in the 1-100 range) is a positive rating. For example, the county stood 95th (most) in estimated percent of people living in poverty. That means there were 94 counties with higher percentages, and only 5 with a lower figure. With this indicator and many others, a low number (close to 1 in the 1-100 range) represents a poor standing.
3. Some measures, such as those relating to population demographics are strictly informational and have no value judgment attributable to the rankings regardless of what they might be.
4. “NC Min” and “NC Max” are direct links to the counties that possess these particular values. The “NC Avg” is the average value for all North Carolina counties. “NC Total” is the total value for North Carolina.

This database contains only a small portion of the data that is available for each listed category; therefore, each indicator is a hyperlink to its definition and to more statistical data sets which provide more extensive information and resources.

Caution: Do not jump to early conclusions based on rankings. Depending upon the indicator, a high or low rank may be more desirable. The following examples illustrate this point:

• For the education indicator “Academically Gifted Students,” the rank number means that county’s number of gifted students is higher than counties ranked with a higher number. For example, the county with rank number 8 would have more gifted students than counties ranked 9-100, but less than counties ranked 1-7. The county with rank number 88 would have more gifted students than counties ranked 89-100, but less than counties ranked 1-87.

In this example, the indicator is positive; generally, more academically gifted students is desirable.

• For the education indicator “High School Dropouts, 2003,” the rank number means that county’s number of high school dropouts is higher than county’s with higher rank numbers. In the same way as the example above, a county ranked eighth would have more dropouts than counties ranked 9-100 and less dropouts than counties ranked 1-7. A county with a rank of 88 would have more dropouts than counties ranked 89-100, but less than counties 1-87.

The main point here is that ranks 1 and 100 are not linked consistently to the value judgments “best” and “worst.”