Data / Rankings / Civilian labor force / Cities in North Carolina

Cities in North Carolina by civilian labor force

Charlotte, NC had the highest civilian labor force of 43 cities in 2016, at 450,733. Kinston, NC had the lowest, at 7,430. The median was 20,631. Source: the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

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Highest450,733Charlotte, NC
Lowest7,430Kinston, NC
Median20,63143 cities

All cities, 2016

Charlotte, NC: 450,733 personsCharlotte, NC450,733Raleigh, NC: 251,618 personsRaleigh, NC251,618Greensboro, NC: 145,902 personsGreensboro, NC145,902Durham, NC: 143,393 personsDurham, NC143,393Winston-Salem, NC: 114,673 personsWinston-Salem, NC114,673Cary, NC: 87,169 personsCary, NC87,169Fayetteville, NC: 79,269 personsFayetteville, NC79,269Wilmington, NC: 57,617 personsWilmington, NC57,617High Point, NC: 53,050 personsHigh Point, NC53,050Asheville, NC: 48,500 personsAsheville, NC48,500Concord, NC: 48,433 personsConcord, NC48,433Greenville, NC: 43,271 personsGreenville, NC43,271Gastonia, NC: 36,970 personsGastonia, NC36,970Huntersville, NC: 31,588 personsHuntersville, NC31,588Chapel Hill, NC: 28,160 personsChapel Hill, NC28,160Rocky Mount, NC: 25,559 personsRocky Mount, NC25,559Apex, NC: 25,376 personsApex, NC25,376Burlington, NC: 25,303 personsBurlington, NC25,303Mooresville, NC: 25,020 personsMooresville, NC25,020Kannapolis, NC: 23,889 personsKannapolis, NC23,889Wilson, NC: 22,542 personsWilson, NC22,542Wake Forest, NC: 20,631 personsWake Forest, NC20,631Indian Trail, NC: 20,454 personsIndian Trail, NC20,454Hickory, NC: 19,569 personsHickory, NC19,569Jacksonville, NC: 18,780 personsJacksonville, NC18,780Holly Springs, NC: 17,241 personsHolly Springs, NC17,241Monroe, NC: 16,097 personsMonroe, NC16,097Cornelius, NC: 14,985 personsCornelius, NC14,985Salisbury, NC: 14,877 personsSalisbury, NC14,877Garner, NC: 14,585 personsGarner, NC14,585Matthews, NC: 14,061 personsMatthews, NC14,061Fuquay-Varina, NC: 14,060 personsFuquay-Varina, NC14,060Morrisville, NC: 13,909 personsMorrisville, NC13,909New Bern, NC: 13,532 personsNew Bern, NC13,532Goldsboro, NC: 13,436 personsGoldsboro, NC13,436Kernersville, NC: 13,362 personsKernersville, NC13,362Sanford, NC: 13,338 personsSanford, NC13,338Statesville, NC: 12,856 personsStatesville, NC12,856Mint Hill, NC: 12,738 personsMint Hill, NC12,738Thomasville, NC: 12,660 personsThomasville, NC12,660Asheboro, NC: 11,956 personsAsheboro, NC11,956Clayton, NC: 10,650 personsClayton, NC10,650Kinston, NC: 7,430 personsKinston, NC7,430Charlotte, NC: 450,733 personsCharlotte, NC450,733Raleigh, NC: 251,618 personsRaleigh, NC251,618Greensboro, NC: 145,902 personsGreensboro, NC145,902Durham, NC: 143,393 personsDurham, NC143,393Winston-Salem, NC: 114,673 personsWinston-Salem, NC114,673Cary, NC: 87,169 personsCary, NC87,169Fayetteville, NC: 79,269 personsFayetteville, NC79,269Wilmington, NC: 57,617 personsWilmington, NC57,617High Point, NC: 53,050 personsHigh Point, NC53,050Asheville, NC: 48,500 personsAsheville, NC48,500Concord, NC: 48,433 personsConcord, NC48,433Greenville, NC: 43,271 personsGreenville, NC43,271Gastonia, NC: 36,970 personsGastonia, NC36,970Huntersville, NC: 31,588 personsHuntersville, NC31,588Chapel Hill, NC: 28,160 personsChapel Hill, NC28,160Rocky Mount, NC: 25,559 personsRocky Mount, NC25,559Apex, NC: 25,376 personsApex, NC25,376Burlington, NC: 25,303 personsBurlington, NC25,303Mooresville, NC: 25,020 personsMooresville, NC25,020Kannapolis, NC: 23,889 personsKannapolis, NC23,889Wilson, NC: 22,542 personsWilson, NC22,542Wake Forest, NC: 20,631 personsWake Forest, NC20,631Indian Trail, NC: 20,454 personsIndian Trail, NC20,454Hickory, NC: 19,569 personsHickory, NC19,569Jacksonville, NC: 18,780 personsJacksonville, NC18,780Holly Springs, NC: 17,241 personsHolly Springs, NC17,241Monroe, NC: 16,097 personsMonroe, NC16,097Cornelius, NC: 14,985 personsCornelius, NC14,985Salisbury, NC: 14,877 personsSalisbury, NC14,877Garner, NC: 14,585 personsGarner, NC14,585Matthews, NC: 14,061 personsMatthews, NC14,061Fuquay-Varina, NC: 14,060 personsFuquay-Varina, NC14,060Morrisville, NC: 13,909 personsMorrisville, NC13,909New Bern, NC: 13,532 personsNew Bern, NC13,532Goldsboro, NC: 13,436 personsGoldsboro, NC13,436Kernersville, NC: 13,362 personsKernersville, NC13,362Sanford, NC: 13,338 personsSanford, NC13,338Statesville, NC: 12,856 personsStatesville, NC12,856Mint Hill, NC: 12,738 personsMint Hill, NC12,738Thomasville, NC: 12,660 personsThomasville, NC12,660Asheboro, NC: 11,956 personsAsheboro, NC11,956Clayton, NC: 10,650 personsClayton, NC10,650Kinston, NC: 7,430 personsKinston, NC7,430
persons. Source: BLS, Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: labor force (measure 06), annual average. Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Full ranking

RankCities2016
persons		Change on 2015
1Charlotte, NC450,733+1.7%
2Raleigh, NC251,618+6.5%
3Greensboro, NC145,902+4.1%
4Durham, NC143,393+7.5%
5Winston-Salem, NC114,673+1.8%
6Cary, NC87,169+2.5%
7Fayetteville, NC79,269+8.3%
8Wilmington, NC57,617-1.2%
9High Point, NC53,050+1.2%
10Asheville, NC48,500+4.8%
11Concord, NC48,433+13%
12Greenville, NC43,271-5.7%
13Gastonia, NC36,970+7.9%
14Huntersville, NC31,588+6.9%
15Chapel Hill, NC28,160-2%
16Rocky Mount, NC25,559+8.2%
17Apex, NC25,376+7.6%
18Burlington, NC25,303+2.1%
19Mooresville, NC25,020+35.3%
20Kannapolis, NC23,889+13.7%
21Wilson, NC22,542+6.1%
22Wake Forest, NC20,631+9.4%
23Indian Trail, NC20,454+9%
24Hickory, NC19,569+1%
25Jacksonville, NC18,780+0.7%
26Holly Springs, NC17,241+13.2%
27Monroe, NC16,097-0.8%
28Cornelius, NC14,985-6%
29Salisbury, NC14,877+11.9%
30Garner, NC14,585-3.4%
31Matthews, NC14,061-13.2%
32Fuquay-Varina, NC14,060+23.5%
33Morrisville, NC13,909+6.3%
34New Bern, NC13,532+10.9%
35Goldsboro, NC13,436+8.9%
36Kernersville, NC13,362+5%
37Sanford, NC13,338+10%
38Statesville, NC12,856+17.3%
39Mint Hill, NC12,738-2.3%
40Thomasville, NC12,660+5.6%
41Asheboro, NC11,956+8.7%
42Clayton, NC10,650+9.2%
43Kinston, NC7,430-17.5%

Other periods

About this ranking

Employed plus unemployed residents, annual average.

More on how it is measured
  • People aged 16 and over by place of residence, from the Local Area Unemployment Statistics (LAUS) program of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
  • Active-duty military personnel and people living in institutions are excluded.

United States cities only for now. Counts people where they live, not jobs: for wage and salary jobs by state use oews_employment. BLS estimates cities by splitting county estimates with Census Bureau employment and population data and unemployment insurance claims, so city figures are less precise than state ones. BLS publishes cities of 25,000 or more, and smaller cities in New England.

Every value in the ranking comes from the same publisher and the same period, so the cities are compared on one definition. 1 cities with data in other periods have no value for 2016 and are left out rather than filled from another source. Equal values share a rank.

How to cite

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: labor force (measure 06), annual average. https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU15-19. Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Citation styles

The publisher is the author. Invokely is named only as the place the figures were read, where a style asks for it.

APA 7

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2026). Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: labor force (measure 06), annual average (Cities in North Carolina by civilian labor force, 2016) [Data set]. Retrieved October 12, 2026, from https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU15-19

MLA 9

Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: labor force (measure 06), annual average, Cities in North Carolina by civilian labor force, 2016. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 30 Sept. 2026, https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU15-19. Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/civilian-labor-force/north-carolina-cities?period=2016. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.

Chicago (author-date)

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. 2026. Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: labor force (measure 06), annual average. Cities in North Carolina by civilian labor force, 2016. Dataset. Accessed October 12, 2026. https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU15-19. Also distributed by Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/civilian-labor-force/north-carolina-cities?period=2016.

Harvard

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (2026) Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: labor force (measure 06), annual average, Cities in North Carolina by civilian labor force, 2016 [Dataset]. Available at: https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU15-19, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/civilian-labor-force/north-carolina-cities?period=2016 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX
@misc{bureau_cities_in_north_carolina_2016,
  author = {{U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics}},
  title = {{Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: labor force (measure 06), annual average: Cities in North Carolina by civilian labor force, 2016}},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {Data set},
  url = {https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU15-19},
  urldate = {2026-10-12},
  note = {Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/civilian-labor-force/north-carolina-cities?period=2016. Publisher attribution: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: labor force (measure 06), annual average. https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU15-19. Retrieved 2026-10-12.},
}
RIS
TY  - DATA
AU  - U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
TI  - Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: labor force (measure 06), annual average: Cities in North Carolina by civilian labor force, 2016
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/09/30
PB  - U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
DB  - Invokely
UR  - https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU15-19
L2  - https://invokely.ai/rankings/civilian-labor-force/north-carolina-cities?period=2016
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/civilian-labor-force/north-carolina-cities?period=2016.
N1  - Publisher attribution: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: labor force (measure 06), annual average. https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU15-19. Retrieved 2026-10-12.
ER  -
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Rank Cities in North Carolina by civilian labor force using official data, and cite the source.
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Questions

Which city has the highest civilian labor force?

Charlotte, NC, with 450,733 in 2016, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Which city has the lowest civilian labor force?

Kinston, NC, with 7,430 in 2016.

Where does this ranking come from?

Every value comes from one source and one period, so the places are comparable: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: labor force (measure 06), annual average. Retrieved 2026-10-12. 1 cities have no value for 2016 and are not ranked.

Civilian labor force: other rankings

Cities in North Carolina: more rankings