The N.C. Association of County Commissioners publishes an annual County Map Book – a snapshot into conditions and comparisons of each of the state’s 100 counties. The 2024 edition was released recently.
Both the NCACC’s website and the association’s annual County Map Book provide a wealth of information about Cherokee County and a relatively easy way to compare and contrast it with other North Carolina counties.
“The maps and data in this book highlight demographic, economic and environmental, educational, health and tax information from North Carolina’s 100 counties,” according to the book’s introduction. The purpose of the book is to help provide context and promote analysis for decisions at a local level.
Over the coming weeks, the Cherokee Scout will be digging into details and data contained in the map book, including:
- Demographics: Including population and population change since 2014; median age, population under age 18 and over age 65; and veteran population.
- Economics and environment: Agriculture land acreage and number of farms; broadband internet access and computing device access; children in poverty; average weekly wage, per-capita income and gross domestic product.
- Education: Pre-kindergarten enrollment, K-12 funding; teacher salary supplements; third-grade reading proficiency; Opportunity Youth; adults without a high school diploma; and overall educational attainment.
- Health: Food insecurity; traditional Medicaid enrollment; uninsured residents; and emergency department visits for drug overdose and overdose deaths.
- Taxation: Property tax rates and property tax levy per capita; taxable property valuation per capita; present use valuation; and local option sales tax.
However, the Scout won’t stop there. Data, even as rich as the County Map Book, is useless in a vacuum, so the Scout will use the map book as a starting point.
It will compare and contrast map book information with other research and data available in the public domain – U.S. Census, N.C. Department of Transportation, commerce, education, FBI crime statistics, long-range plans by local agencies and any other information available in order to provide apples-to-applies comparisons and context.
The Scout will be comparing and contrasting neighboring and nearby counties in North Carolina, Georgia and Tennessee. The local newspaper will also compare and contrast counties that are similar to Cherokee County in population, demographics, geology, politics and more.
Here is a taste of what’s to come, without revealing any spoilers.
- Population: Cherokee County is growing, but not as fast as Clay and Macon counties, while Graham and Swain counties are losing population.
The far west is generally growing, compared to the eastern third of the state, where a stretch of about two dozen counties are in decline, bracketed by thriving metropolitan and coastal counties.
Almost all the counties bordering Tennessee show growth, including Cherokee (7.9%), Haywood (8.1%), Madison (1.5%), Yancey (4.8%), Watauga (11.5%) and Ashe (1.9%). The exceptions are Graham (-9.2%), Swain (-5.4%), Mitchell (-2.6%) and Avery (-2%) counties.
Moderate growth is taking place in neighboring Macon (11.4%) and Clay (11.9%) counties – more robust than Cherokee County. Around Asheville, Buncombe (10.7%) and Henderson (Hendersonville) (10.7%) are growing at faster rates than Cherokee.
- Median age: Cherokee County has the second-oldest population in North Carolina with a median age of 52.2, just behind Brunswick County on the south coast (53.5). Both have significant retired populations.
Clay County is ranked third (51.5), Macon eighth (49.6), Graham 37th (44.0) and Swain coming in at 72nd (39.9).
Onslow County, home to Camp Lejeune Marine Corps Base, has the youngest median age in the state at 25.4 – about half that of Cherokee County.
- Veteran population: Counties in and around military bases – Camp Lejeune in Onslow, Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point in Craven, Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in Wayne, and near naval facilities in Norfolk, Va. – lead the state in veteran populations.
But Cherokee County has the highest concentration of veterans elsewhere in the state and not near military bases. Cherokee County ranks ninth in the state with 10% of its populations being veterans, a higher percentage than Wayne, home to an Air Force base, which ranked 13th with a 9% veteran population.
Neighboring Clay ranks 20th with 8%, Macon ranks 26th with 7%, Swain ranks 35th with 7% and Graham ranks 85th with 5%.
- Agriculture land: The rugged mountains of western North Carolina are poorly suited for large-scale agriculture, which the Coastal Plain counties dominate in North Carolina. Cherokee and surrounding counties rank near the bottom for agriculture land.
Cherokee County ranks 85th in the state, with 25,410 acres of agriculture land recorded in 2022, the latest figures available. Cherokee County has lost 3% of its agriculture land since 2017, when it ranked 51st in the state.
Cherokee County has 246 farms and is ranked 68th in the state for number of farms, an 11% drop since 2017 when it ranked 61st in the state.