Charlotte Demographics

Charlotte is currently the largest the city in North Carolina boasting a population of 540,828, and the 20th largest in the entire country. What makes even more special is its ever growing and diversifying minority population. This page provides information and statistics on the characteristics of Charlotte's population.

Charlotte is located latitude: 35.226 N longitude: 80.843 W. The total land area of the city is 242.27 square miles. Charlotte has a population density of 2,232.35 persons per square mile.

diveristy picture

Overall Population Statistics:

Racial Make-Up

Race	Population Numbers	Population Percent
White	315,061	58.3%
African American	176,964	32.7%
Hispanic/Latino	39,800	7.4%
Two or More	28,239	5.3%
Asian	18,418	3.4%
American Indian/Alaska Native	1,863	.3%
Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander	283	.1%

The following graph provides a visual breakdown of Charlotte's population.

demographic breakdown

Gender Make-Up

Gender	Population Numbers	Population Percent
Female	275,850	51%
Male	264, 978	49%

Socioeconomic Statistics:

Median Household Income	$46,975
Per-Capita Income	$26,823
Unemployment Rate	5.5%
Percentage Below Poverty Level	10.6%
Education: High-School Graduates	84.9%
Bachelor Degree	36.4%
Graduate/Professional Degree	10.5%
Percent of Businesses with Minority Ownership	15.8%

Geographic Location by Race:

In these maps, darker green indicates a higher concentration of a given race. Note the concentration of racial minorities clustered in the city center, while the White population occupies the more suburban areas.

African American	Latino/Hispanic

White	Asian

City-Wide Economic Characteristics:

money

The following maps display the median household income (as of 1999) and also the location of families below the poverty level (as of 1999). Darker green indicates a higher concentration of the respective variable. Notice the location of high-wealth families is concentrated on the outskirts of the city, where mostly White affluent population is concentrated, while those below the poverty line are concentrated in minority rich areas.

Mean Household Incomes	Families Below Poverty Level

As is evident by these images, the bulk of the wealth in Charlotte is located in the White population, while the families stuck below the poverty level exist in areas dominated by minority populations. Charlotte needs to take steps to address this massive disparity in earnings.

This page was last updated: Thursday, April 27, 2006

This page was created as part of a case-study for Dr. Freitag's Group and
Minority politics course at the University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire.