Data / Rankings / Job creation rate / Counties in North Carolina

Counties in North Carolina by job creation rate

Greene County had the highest job creation rate of 100 counties in 2012, at 21.156%. Scotland County had the lowest, at 6.257%. The median was 12.088% and the figure for North Carolina was 13.437%. Source: the U.S. Census Bureau.

Keep it in a collection in your library.
Highest21.156Greene County
Lowest6.257Scotland County
Median12.088100 counties
North Carolina13.437History

Map of counties, 2012

Alamance County: 11.077 %Alexander County: 8.328 %Alleghany County: 10.984 %Anson County: 18.164 %Ashe County: 9.543 %Avery County: 12.92 %Beaufort County: 11.432 %Bertie County: 8.425 %Bladen County: 8.219 %Brunswick County: 13.856 %Buncombe County: 12.264 %Burke County: 13.552 %Cabarrus County: 13.953 %Caldwell County: 10.411 %Camden County: 9.816 %Carteret County: 14.101 %Caswell County: 15.818 %Catawba County: 11.797 %Chatham County: 14.445 %Cherokee County: 10.702 %Chowan County: 11.344 %Clay County: 19.49 %Cleveland County: 11.347 %Columbus County: 14.224 %Craven County: 15.567 %Cumberland County: 13.973 %Currituck County: 18.825 %Dare County: 18.964 %Davidson County: 13.253 %Davie County: 11.183 %Duplin County: 8.866 %Durham County: 11.742 %Edgecombe County: 9.198 %Forsyth County: 10.528 %Franklin County: 14.814 %Gaston County: 15.532 %Gates County: 10.668 %Graham County: 9.62 %Granville County: 9.423 %Greene County: 21.156 %Guilford County: 12.286 %Halifax County: 9.451 %Harnett County: 13.427 %Haywood County: 14.877 %Henderson County: 11.362 %Hertford County: 8.497 %Hoke County: 12.946 %Hyde County: 12.487 %Iredell County: 13.625 %Jackson County: 11.906 %Johnston County: 11.634 %Jones County: 14.465 %Lee County: 10.926 %Lenoir County: 13.501 %Lincoln County: 13.61 %McDowell County: 12.192 %Macon County: 11.812 %Madison County: 11.615 %Martin County: 10.957 %Mecklenburg County: 15.595 %Mitchell County: 10.563 %Montgomery County: 9.829 %Moore County: 13.806 %Nash County: 10.169 %New Hanover County: 12.969 %Northampton County: 8.962 %Onslow County: 15.665 %Orange County: 10.729 %Pamlico County: 15.929 %Pasquotank County: 10.492 %Pender County: 15.185 %Perquimans County: 12.649 %Person County: 8.99 %Pitt County: 13.116 %Polk County: 12.95 %Randolph County: 12.803 %Richmond County: 11.286 %Robeson County: 12.192 %Rockingham County: 11.713 %Rowan County: 10.957 %Rutherford County: 12.665 %Sampson County: 10.181 %Scotland County: 6.257 %Stanly County: 10.636 %Stokes County: 15.39 %Surry County: 8.552 %Swain County: 17.173 %Transylvania County: 11.984 %Tyrrell County: 21.156 %Union County: 15.651 %Vance County: 10.195 %Wake County: 15.813 %Warren County: 12.272 %Washington County: 9.123 %Watauga County: 19.398 %Wayne County: 9.542 %Wilkes County: 10.761 %Wilson County: 14.438 %Yadkin County: 12.752 %Yancey County: 10.78 %
  • Under 9.8
  • 9.8 to 11
  • 11 to 12
  • 12 to 13
  • 13 to 15
  • 15 and over
%, 2012. Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Business Dynamics Statistics: job creation rate, all covered industries, nation and states from 1978, counties from 2010. Boundaries: U.S. Census Bureau cartographic boundary files.

Top 40 counties, 2012

Greene County: 21.156 %Greene County21.156Tyrrell County: 21.156 %Tyrrell County21.156Clay County: 19.49 %Clay County19.49Watauga County: 19.398 %Watauga County19.398Dare County: 18.964 %Dare County18.964Currituck County: 18.825 %Currituck County18.825Anson County: 18.164 %Anson County18.164Swain County: 17.173 %Swain County17.173Pamlico County: 15.929 %Pamlico County15.929Caswell County: 15.818 %Caswell County15.818Wake County: 15.813 %Wake County15.813Onslow County: 15.665 %Onslow County15.665Union County: 15.651 %Union County15.651Mecklenburg County: 15.595 %Mecklenburg County15.595Craven County: 15.567 %Craven County15.567Gaston County: 15.532 %Gaston County15.532Stokes County: 15.39 %Stokes County15.39Pender County: 15.185 %Pender County15.185Haywood County: 14.877 %Haywood County14.877Franklin County: 14.814 %Franklin County14.814Jones County: 14.465 %Jones County14.465Chatham County: 14.445 %Chatham County14.445Wilson County: 14.438 %Wilson County14.438Columbus County: 14.224 %Columbus County14.224Carteret County: 14.101 %Carteret County14.101Cumberland County: 13.973 %Cumberland County13.973Cabarrus County: 13.953 %Cabarrus County13.953Brunswick County: 13.856 %Brunswick County13.856Moore County: 13.806 %Moore County13.806Iredell County: 13.625 %Iredell County13.625Lincoln County: 13.61 %Lincoln County13.61Burke County: 13.552 %Burke County13.552Lenoir County: 13.501 %Lenoir County13.501Harnett County: 13.427 %Harnett County13.427Davidson County: 13.253 %Davidson County13.253Pitt County: 13.116 %Pitt County13.116New Hanover County: 12.969 %New Hanover County12.969Polk County: 12.95 %Polk County12.95Hoke County: 12.946 %Hoke County12.946Avery County: 12.92 %Avery County12.92Greene County: 21.156 %Greene County21.156Tyrrell County: 21.156 %Tyrrell County21.156Clay County: 19.49 %Clay County19.49Watauga County: 19.398 %Watauga County19.398Dare County: 18.964 %Dare County18.964Currituck County: 18.825 %Currituck County18.825Anson County: 18.164 %Anson County18.164Swain County: 17.173 %Swain County17.173Pamlico County: 15.929 %Pamlico County15.929Caswell County: 15.818 %Caswell County15.818Wake County: 15.813 %Wake County15.813Onslow County: 15.665 %Onslow County15.665Union County: 15.651 %Union County15.651Mecklenburg County: 15.595 %Mecklenburg County15.595Craven County: 15.567 %Craven County15.567Gaston County: 15.532 %Gaston County15.532Stokes County: 15.39 %Stokes County15.39Pender County: 15.185 %Pender County15.185Haywood County: 14.877 %Haywood County14.877Franklin County: 14.814 %Franklin County14.814Jones County: 14.465 %Jones County14.465Chatham County: 14.445 %Chatham County14.445Wilson County: 14.438 %Wilson County14.438Columbus County: 14.224 %Columbus County14.224Carteret County: 14.101 %Carteret County14.101Cumberland County: 13.973 %Cumberland County13.973Cabarrus County: 13.953 %Cabarrus County13.953Brunswick County: 13.856 %Brunswick County13.856Moore County: 13.806 %Moore County13.806Iredell County: 13.625 %Iredell County13.625Lincoln County: 13.61 %Lincoln County13.61Burke County: 13.552 %Burke County13.552Lenoir County: 13.501 %Lenoir County13.501Harnett County: 13.427 %Harnett County13.427Davidson County: 13.253 %Davidson County13.253Pitt County: 13.116 %Pitt County13.116New Hanover County: 12.969 %New Hanover County12.969Polk County: 12.95 %Polk County12.95Hoke County: 12.946 %Hoke County12.946Avery County: 12.92 %Avery County12.92
%. Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Business Dynamics Statistics: job creation rate, all covered industries, nation and states from 1978, counties from 2010. Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Full ranking

RankCounties2012 (%)Change on 2011
1Greene County21.156+3.79 pts
1Tyrrell County21.156+5.92 pts
3Clay County19.49+6.83 pts
4Watauga County19.398+7.9 pts
5Dare County18.964+5.36 pts
6Currituck County18.825+5.91 pts
7Anson County18.164+1.67 pts
8Swain County17.173+4.74 pts
9Pamlico County15.929+1.97 pts
10Caswell County15.818+0.03 pts
11Wake County15.813+0.69 pts
12Onslow County15.665+3.39 pts
13Union County15.651+1.95 pts
14Mecklenburg County15.595+0.91 pts
15Craven County15.567+4.73 pts
16Gaston County15.532+3.25 pts
17Stokes County15.39+5.79 pts
18Pender County15.185+0.33 pts
19Haywood County14.877+3.22 pts
20Franklin County14.814+2.5 pts
21Jones County14.465+4.48 pts
22Chatham County14.445+4.38 pts
23Wilson County14.438+1.58 pts
24Columbus County14.224+1.31 pts
25Carteret County14.101-0.67 pts
26Cumberland County13.973+0.6 pts
27Cabarrus County13.953+2.23 pts
28Brunswick County13.856+0.59 pts
29Moore County13.806-0.9 pts
30Iredell County13.625-0.93 pts
31Lincoln County13.61+2.27 pts
32Burke County13.552+0.83 pts
33Lenoir County13.501+1.63 pts
34Harnett County13.427+1.8 pts
35Davidson County13.253+2.22 pts
36Pitt County13.116+2.41 pts
37New Hanover County12.969-2.74 pts
38Polk County12.95+1.18 pts
39Hoke County12.946+1.35 pts
40Avery County12.92-2.22 pts
41Randolph County12.803+0.98 pts
42Yadkin County12.752+0.89 pts
43Rutherford County12.665-0.65 pts
44Perquimans County12.649+0.91 pts
45Hyde County12.487-9.13 pts
46Guilford County12.286-0.13 pts
47Warren County12.272+1 pts
48Buncombe County12.264-0.06 pts
49McDowell County12.192+2.73 pts
49Robeson County12.192-0.67 pts
51Transylvania County11.984+3.74 pts
52Jackson County11.906+0.57 pts
53Macon County11.812-3.79 pts
54Catawba County11.797+0.86 pts
55Durham County11.742+0.79 pts
56Rockingham County11.713+0.7 pts
57Johnston County11.634-1.81 pts
58Madison County11.615-5.83 pts
59Beaufort County11.432-0.52 pts
60Henderson County11.362+0.58 pts
61Cleveland County11.347-1.3 pts
62Chowan County11.344-0.58 pts
63Richmond County11.286-2.38 pts
64Davie County11.183-3.79 pts
65Alamance County11.077-2.33 pts
66Alleghany County10.984+0.08 pts
67Martin County10.957+1.5 pts
67Rowan County10.957+0.35 pts
69Lee County10.926+2.04 pts
70Yancey County10.78-0.41 pts
71Wilkes County10.761-2.01 pts
72Orange County10.729+1.33 pts
73Cherokee County10.702-1.34 pts
74Gates County10.668+1.65 pts
75Stanly County10.636-0.13 pts
76Mitchell County10.563-1.74 pts
77Forsyth County10.528-1.86 pts
78Pasquotank County10.492-0.26 pts
79Caldwell County10.411-0.05 pts
80Vance County10.195+0.02 pts
81Sampson County10.181-4.11 pts
82Nash County10.169-1.19 pts
83Montgomery County9.829-3.31 pts
84Camden County9.816-4.59 pts
85Graham County9.62+1.48 pts
86Ashe County9.543-11.12 pts
87Wayne County9.542+0.55 pts
88Halifax County9.451+0.63 pts
89Granville County9.423+0.06 pts
90Edgecombe County9.198-0.69 pts
91Washington County9.123+3.35 pts
92Person County8.99-6.8 pts
93Northampton County8.962+2.34 pts
94Duplin County8.866-1.29 pts
95Surry County8.552-1.56 pts
96Hertford County8.497+0.68 pts
97Bertie County8.425+0.59 pts
98Alexander County8.328-1.27 pts
99Bladen County8.219-1.42 pts
100Scotland County6.257-6.31 pts

Other periods

About this ranking

Jobs added at opening and expanding establishments during the year, as a percentage of average employment in the two years. United States: Census Bureau Business Dynamics Statistics.

A gross flow: jobs lost elsewhere are not subtracted, so the net change is this rate minus job_destruction_rate. Not the same as payroll job growth from the monthly employment surveys. The year is the twelve months to March: 2023 compares March 2022 with March 2023.

Every value in the ranking comes from the same publisher and the same period, so the counties are compared on one definition. Equal values share a rank.

How to cite

U.S. Census Bureau. Business Dynamics Statistics: job creation rate, all covered industries, nation and states from 1978, counties from 2010. https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/bds/tables/time-series/2023/bds2023_st_cty.csv. 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. Census Bureau. (2025). Business Dynamics Statistics: job creation rate, all covered industries, nation and states from 1978, counties from 2010 (Counties in North Carolina by job creation rate, 2012) [Data set]. Retrieved October 12, 2026, from https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/bds/tables/time-series/2023/bds2023_st_cty.csv

MLA 9

Business Dynamics Statistics: job creation rate, all covered industries, nation and states from 1978, counties from 2010, Counties in North Carolina by job creation rate, 2012. U.S. Census Bureau, 25 Sept. 2025, https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/bds/tables/time-series/2023/bds2023_st_cty.csv. Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/job-creation-rate/north-carolina-counties?period=2012. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.

Chicago (author-date)

U.S. Census Bureau. 2025. Business Dynamics Statistics: job creation rate, all covered industries, nation and states from 1978, counties from 2010. Counties in North Carolina by job creation rate, 2012. Dataset. Accessed October 12, 2026. https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/bds/tables/time-series/2023/bds2023_st_cty.csv. Also distributed by Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/job-creation-rate/north-carolina-counties?period=2012.

Harvard

U.S. Census Bureau (2025) Business Dynamics Statistics: job creation rate, all covered industries, nation and states from 1978, counties from 2010, Counties in North Carolina by job creation rate, 2012 [Dataset]. Available at: https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/bds/tables/time-series/2023/bds2023_st_cty.csv, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/job-creation-rate/north-carolina-counties?period=2012 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX
@misc{census_counties_in_north_carolina_2012,
  author = {{U.S. Census Bureau}},
  title = {{Business Dynamics Statistics: job creation rate, all covered industries, nation and states from 1978, counties from 2010: Counties in North Carolina by job creation rate, 2012}},
  year = {2025},
  howpublished = {Data set},
  url = {https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/bds/tables/time-series/2023/bds2023_st_cty.csv},
  urldate = {2026-10-12},
  note = {Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/job-creation-rate/north-carolina-counties?period=2012. Publisher attribution: U.S. Census Bureau. Business Dynamics Statistics: job creation rate, all covered industries, nation and states from 1978, counties from 2010. https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/bds/tables/time-series/2023/bds2023\_st\_cty.csv. Retrieved 2026-10-12.},
}
RIS
TY  - DATA
AU  - U.S. Census Bureau
TI  - Business Dynamics Statistics: job creation rate, all covered industries, nation and states from 1978, counties from 2010: Counties in North Carolina by job creation rate, 2012
PY  - 2025
DA  - 2025/09/25
PB  - U.S. Census Bureau
DB  - Invokely
UR  - https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/bds/tables/time-series/2023/bds2023_st_cty.csv
L2  - https://invokely.ai/rankings/job-creation-rate/north-carolina-counties?period=2012
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/job-creation-rate/north-carolina-counties?period=2012.
N1  - Publisher attribution: U.S. Census Bureau. Business Dynamics Statistics: job creation rate, all covered industries, nation and states from 1978, counties from 2010. https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/bds/tables/time-series/2023/bds2023_st_cty.csv. Retrieved 2026-10-12.
ER  -
Embed this chart

Paste this code into a web page or a blog post. The chart shows the latest figures as they are published, with the source and a link back to this page.

Sites that read oEmbed links, such as WordPress, can show the chart when you paste the link to this page.

Use this data in your AI agent

Invokely serves this figure to AI assistants through MCP and to code through a REST API, with the source and citation attached. Ask your assistant:

Rank Counties in North Carolina by job creation rate using official data, and cite the source.
rank_places {"indicator":"job_creation_rate","level":"province","within":"North Carolina","limit":10}
GET https://invokely.ai/api/v1/rank?indicator=job_creation_rate&level=province&within=North%20Carolina&limit=10

Connect Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor in one step. The trial answers 25 calls a day without an account.

Questions

Which county has the highest job creation rate?

Greene County, with 21.156% in 2012, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Which county has the lowest job creation rate?

Scotland County, with 6.257% in 2012.

Where does this ranking come from?

Every value comes from one source and one period, so the places are comparable: U.S. Census Bureau, Business Dynamics Statistics: job creation rate, all covered industries, nation and states from 1978, counties from 2010. Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Job creation rate: other rankings

Counties in North Carolina: more rankings