Data / Rankings / Employed residents / Cities in North Carolina

Cities in North Carolina by employed residents

Charlotte, NC had the highest employed residents of 43 cities in 2016, at 428,689. Kinston, NC had the lowest, at 6,778. The median was 19,787. Source: the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

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Highest428,689Charlotte, NC
Lowest6,778Kinston, NC
Median19,78743 cities

All cities, 2016

Charlotte, NC: 428,689 personsCharlotte, NC428,689Raleigh, NC: 240,514 personsRaleigh, NC240,514Greensboro, NC: 138,057 personsGreensboro, NC138,057Durham, NC: 137,074 personsDurham, NC137,074Winston-Salem, NC: 108,697 personsWinston-Salem, NC108,697Cary, NC: 83,750 personsCary, NC83,750Fayetteville, NC: 74,142 personsFayetteville, NC74,142Wilmington, NC: 54,752 personsWilmington, NC54,752High Point, NC: 50,048 personsHigh Point, NC50,048Asheville, NC: 46,575 personsAsheville, NC46,575Concord, NC: 46,275 personsConcord, NC46,275Greenville, NC: 40,585 personsGreenville, NC40,585Gastonia, NC: 34,878 personsGastonia, NC34,878Huntersville, NC: 30,362 personsHuntersville, NC30,362Chapel Hill, NC: 26,709 personsChapel Hill, NC26,709Apex, NC: 24,435 personsApex, NC24,435Burlington, NC: 24,013 personsBurlington, NC24,013Mooresville, NC: 23,908 personsMooresville, NC23,908Rocky Mount, NC: 23,505 personsRocky Mount, NC23,505Kannapolis, NC: 22,726 personsKannapolis, NC22,726Wilson, NC: 20,555 personsWilson, NC20,555Wake Forest, NC: 19,787 personsWake Forest, NC19,787Indian Trail, NC: 19,623 personsIndian Trail, NC19,623Hickory, NC: 18,569 personsHickory, NC18,569Jacksonville, NC: 17,463 personsJacksonville, NC17,463Holly Springs, NC: 16,582 personsHolly Springs, NC16,582Monroe, NC: 15,277 personsMonroe, NC15,277Cornelius, NC: 14,327 personsCornelius, NC14,327Salisbury, NC: 13,912 personsSalisbury, NC13,912Garner, NC: 13,906 personsGarner, NC13,906Fuquay-Varina, NC: 13,490 personsFuquay-Varina, NC13,490Matthews, NC: 13,422 personsMatthews, NC13,422Morrisville, NC: 13,411 personsMorrisville, NC13,411New Bern, NC: 12,877 personsNew Bern, NC12,877Kernersville, NC: 12,790 personsKernersville, NC12,790Sanford, NC: 12,581 personsSanford, NC12,581Goldsboro, NC: 12,468 personsGoldsboro, NC12,468Mint Hill, NC: 12,146 personsMint Hill, NC12,146Statesville, NC: 12,146 personsStatesville, NC12,146Thomasville, NC: 11,970 personsThomasville, NC11,970Asheboro, NC: 11,343 personsAsheboro, NC11,343Clayton, NC: 10,198 personsClayton, NC10,198Kinston, NC: 6,778 personsKinston, NC6,778Charlotte, NC: 428,689 personsCharlotte, NC428,689Raleigh, NC: 240,514 personsRaleigh, NC240,514Greensboro, NC: 138,057 personsGreensboro, NC138,057Durham, NC: 137,074 personsDurham, NC137,074Winston-Salem, NC: 108,697 personsWinston-Salem, NC108,697Cary, NC: 83,750 personsCary, NC83,750Fayetteville, NC: 74,142 personsFayetteville, NC74,142Wilmington, NC: 54,752 personsWilmington, NC54,752High Point, NC: 50,048 personsHigh Point, NC50,048Asheville, NC: 46,575 personsAsheville, NC46,575Concord, NC: 46,275 personsConcord, NC46,275Greenville, NC: 40,585 personsGreenville, NC40,585Gastonia, NC: 34,878 personsGastonia, NC34,878Huntersville, NC: 30,362 personsHuntersville, NC30,362Chapel Hill, NC: 26,709 personsChapel Hill, NC26,709Apex, NC: 24,435 personsApex, NC24,435Burlington, NC: 24,013 personsBurlington, NC24,013Mooresville, NC: 23,908 personsMooresville, NC23,908Rocky Mount, NC: 23,505 personsRocky Mount, NC23,505Kannapolis, NC: 22,726 personsKannapolis, NC22,726Wilson, NC: 20,555 personsWilson, NC20,555Wake Forest, NC: 19,787 personsWake Forest, NC19,787Indian Trail, NC: 19,623 personsIndian Trail, NC19,623Hickory, NC: 18,569 personsHickory, NC18,569Jacksonville, NC: 17,463 personsJacksonville, NC17,463Holly Springs, NC: 16,582 personsHolly Springs, NC16,582Monroe, NC: 15,277 personsMonroe, NC15,277Cornelius, NC: 14,327 personsCornelius, NC14,327Salisbury, NC: 13,912 personsSalisbury, NC13,912Garner, NC: 13,906 personsGarner, NC13,906Fuquay-Varina, NC: 13,490 personsFuquay-Varina, NC13,490Matthews, NC: 13,422 personsMatthews, NC13,422Morrisville, NC: 13,411 personsMorrisville, NC13,411New Bern, NC: 12,877 personsNew Bern, NC12,877Kernersville, NC: 12,790 personsKernersville, NC12,790Sanford, NC: 12,581 personsSanford, NC12,581Goldsboro, NC: 12,468 personsGoldsboro, NC12,468Mint Hill, NC: 12,146 personsMint Hill, NC12,146Statesville, NC: 12,146 personsStatesville, NC12,146Thomasville, NC: 11,970 personsThomasville, NC11,970Asheboro, NC: 11,343 personsAsheboro, NC11,343Clayton, NC: 10,198 personsClayton, NC10,198Kinston, NC: 6,778 personsKinston, NC6,778
persons. Source: BLS, Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: employment (measure 05), annual average. Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Full ranking

RankCities2016
persons		Change on 2015
1Charlotte, NC428,689+1.7%
2Raleigh, NC240,514+6.6%
3Greensboro, NC138,057+4.4%
4Durham, NC137,074+7.7%
5Winston-Salem, NC108,697+2.1%
6Cary, NC83,750+2.5%
7Fayetteville, NC74,142+8.4%
8Wilmington, NC54,752-1%
9High Point, NC50,048+1.3%
10Asheville, NC46,575+5%
11Concord, NC46,275+12.7%
12Greenville, NC40,585-6.3%
13Gastonia, NC34,878+8.5%
14Huntersville, NC30,362+6.8%
15Chapel Hill, NC26,709-2%
16Apex, NC24,435+7.6%
17Burlington, NC24,013+2.2%
18Mooresville, NC23,908+36.2%
19Rocky Mount, NC23,505+9%
20Kannapolis, NC22,726+14.7%
21Wilson, NC20,555+7.3%
22Wake Forest, NC19,787+9.1%
23Indian Trail, NC19,623+9%
24Hickory, NC18,569+1.2%
25Jacksonville, NC17,463+0.4%
26Holly Springs, NC16,582+13.1%
27Monroe, NC15,277-0.4%
28Cornelius, NC14,327-6.6%
29Salisbury, NC13,912+12.3%
30Garner, NC13,906-3.8%
31Fuquay-Varina, NC13,490+23.6%
32Matthews, NC13,422-13.3%
33Morrisville, NC13,411+6.4%
34New Bern, NC12,877+11.6%
35Kernersville, NC12,790+5%
36Sanford, NC12,581+11.5%
37Goldsboro, NC12,468+9.6%
38Mint Hill, NC12,146-2.7%
38Statesville, NC12,146+18.9%
40Thomasville, NC11,970+6.1%
41Asheboro, NC11,343+9.5%
42Clayton, NC10,198+9.1%
43Kinston, NC6,778-18.8%

Other periods

About this ranking

Residents who did any work for pay or profit in the reference week, or were temporarily absent from a job, 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, whatever the place of work, and someone with two jobs counts once. 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: employment (measure 05), 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: employment (measure 05), annual average (Cities in North Carolina by employed residents, 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: employment (measure 05), annual average, Cities in North Carolina by employed residents, 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/employed-residents/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: employment (measure 05), annual average. Cities in North Carolina by employed residents, 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/employed-residents/north-carolina-cities?period=2016.

Harvard

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (2026) Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: employment (measure 05), annual average, Cities in North Carolina by employed residents, 2016 [Dataset]. Available at: https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU15-19, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/employed-residents/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: employment (measure 05), annual average: Cities in North Carolina by employed residents, 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/employed-residents/north-carolina-cities?period=2016. Publisher attribution: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: employment (measure 05), 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: employment (measure 05), annual average: Cities in North Carolina by employed residents, 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/employed-residents/north-carolina-cities?period=2016
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/employed-residents/north-carolina-cities?period=2016.
N1  - Publisher attribution: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: employment (measure 05), annual average. https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU15-19. Retrieved 2026-10-12.
ER  -
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Questions

Which city has the highest employed residents?

Charlotte, NC, with 428,689 in 2016, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Which city has the lowest employed residents?

Kinston, NC, with 6,778 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: employment (measure 05), annual average. Retrieved 2026-10-12. 1 cities have no value for 2016 and are not ranked.

Employed residents: other rankings

Cities in North Carolina: more rankings