Counties in North Carolina by personal income, 2024

Wake County had the highest personal income of 100 counties in 2024, at $105.46 billion. Tyrrell County had the lowest, at $165.3 million. The median was $3.08 billion and the figure for North Carolina was $721.11 billion. Source: the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.

Highest105,463.3Wake County
Lowest165.3Tyrrell County
Median3,075.9100 counties
North Carolina721,108.3History

Top 40 counties, 2024

Wake County: 105,463.3 USD millionWake County105,463.3Mecklenburg County: 103,858.5 USD millionMecklenburg County103,858.5Guilford County: 35,577.2 USD millionGuilford County35,577.2Forsyth County: 25,476.9 USD millionForsyth County25,476.9Durham County: 23,736.9 USD millionDurham County23,736.9Union County: 20,156.3 USD millionUnion County20,156.3Buncombe County: 19,718.7 USD millionBuncombe County19,718.7Cumberland County: 17,727.5 USD millionCumberland County17,727.5New Hanover County: 16,952.1 USD millionNew Hanover County16,952.1Cabarrus County: 14,968 USD millionCabarrus County14,968Iredell County: 14,468.5 USD millionIredell County14,468.5Johnston County: 13,822.3 USD millionJohnston County13,822.3Orange County: 13,419.2 USD millionOrange County13,419.2Gaston County: 13,406.8 USD millionGaston County13,406.8Onslow County: 12,234.1 USD millionOnslow County12,234.1Brunswick County: 10,739 USD millionBrunswick County10,739Pitt County: 10,623.8 USD millionPitt County10,623.8Catawba County: 10,084.4 USD millionCatawba County10,084.4Alamance County: 9,924.1 USD millionAlamance County9,924.1Davidson County: 9,601.4 USD millionDavidson County9,601.4Rowan County: 7,931.8 USD millionRowan County7,931.8Moore County: 7,905.8 USD millionMoore County7,905.8Randolph County: 7,706.4 USD millionRandolph County7,706.4Henderson County: 7,689.3 USD millionHenderson County7,689.3Chatham County: 7,686 USD millionChatham County7,686Harnett County: 7,323.5 USD millionHarnett County7,323.5Wayne County: 6,492.9 USD millionWayne County6,492.9Craven County: 6,450.9 USD millionCraven County6,450.9Lincoln County: 6,328.7 USD millionLincoln County6,328.7Robeson County: 5,522 USD millionRobeson County5,522Nash County: 5,501.2 USD millionNash County5,501.2Cleveland County: 5,230.4 USD millionCleveland County5,230.4Carteret County: 5,211.6 USD millionCarteret County5,211.6Rockingham County: 4,754.4 USD millionRockingham County4,754.4Burke County: 4,519.9 USD millionBurke County4,519.9Wilson County: 4,392 USD millionWilson County4,392Franklin County: 4,157 USD millionFranklin County4,157Caldwell County: 4,086.3 USD millionCaldwell County4,086.3Pender County: 3,965.4 USD millionPender County3,965.4Lee County: 3,933.5 USD millionLee County3,933.5
USD million. Source: BEA, CAINC1: county annual personal income summary, personal income (published in thousands of dollars, shown in millions), individual counties and county equivalents. Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Full ranking

RankCounties2024
USD million
Change on 2023
1Wake County105,463.3+7.6%
2Mecklenburg County103,858.5+7.1%
3Guilford County35,577.2+6.6%
4Forsyth County25,476.9+6.3%
5Durham County23,736.9+7.4%
6Union County20,156.3+7.1%
7Buncombe County19,718.7+6.7%
8Cumberland County17,727.5+6.8%
9New Hanover County16,952.1+6.4%
10Cabarrus County14,968+6.8%
11Iredell County14,468.5+7.4%
12Johnston County13,822.3+8.6%
13Orange County13,419.2+6%
14Gaston County13,406.8+6.6%
15Onslow County12,234.1+7.2%
16Brunswick County10,739+8.3%
17Pitt County10,623.8+7.7%
18Catawba County10,084.4+6.3%
19Alamance County9,924.1+6.8%
20Davidson County9,601.4+6.5%
21Rowan County7,931.8+6.2%
22Moore County7,905.8+7.8%
23Randolph County7,706.4+6.3%
24Henderson County7,689.3+6.7%
25Chatham County7,686+7.3%
26Harnett County7,323.5+8.1%
27Wayne County6,492.9+7.9%
28Craven County6,450.9+8%
29Lincoln County6,328.7+7.3%
30Robeson County5,522+6.9%
31Nash County5,501.2+7.3%
32Cleveland County5,230.4+6.5%
33Carteret County5,211.6+7.3%
34Rockingham County4,754.4+6.3%
35Burke County4,519.9+6.5%
36Wilson County4,392+6.6%
37Franklin County4,157+9.1%
38Caldwell County4,086.3+6.2%
39Pender County3,965.4+8.1%
40Lee County3,933.5+7.7%
41Surry County3,882.6+6.1%
42Haywood County3,686+7.2%
43Stanly County3,650.7+8%
44Wilkes County3,500.7+6.9%
45Granville County3,374.4+6.4%
46Dare County3,192.6+6.5%
47Lenoir County3,153.8+6.7%
48Rutherford County3,115.4+7.2%
49Watauga County3,104.2+5.4%
50Sampson County3,076.6+8.5%
51Davie County3,075.2+7.2%
52Duplin County2,947.4+8.1%
53Beaufort County2,764.2+7.1%
54Hoke County2,554.3+8%
55Edgecombe County2,461.6+6.6%
56Columbus County2,452.1+6.2%
57Stokes County2,398.5+6.8%
58Halifax County2,377.5+6.2%
59McDowell County2,286.2+7.4%
60Jackson County2,258.1+7.1%
61Pasquotank County2,233.6+6.3%
62Transylvania County2,204.5+6.3%
63Macon County2,167+4.6%
64Richmond County2,162.6+7.1%
65Person County2,118.1+6.4%
66Currituck County2,098.2+7.1%
67Vance County2,091.6+5.8%
68Yadkin County2,047.2+6.9%
69Alexander County1,961.6+7%
70Scotland County1,618.5+7.9%
71Bladen County1,618.4+6.7%
72Polk County1,467.8+6.8%
73Ashe County1,403.9+7.4%
74Cherokee County1,370.9+7.1%
75Montgomery County1,323.4+6.4%
76Anson County1,243.9+9.3%
77Madison County1,138.3+7.5%
78Caswell County1,078+6.9%
79Martin County1,009.2+5.5%
80Avery County959.9+5.9%
81Hertford County955+5.9%
82Yancey County928.9+5.9%
83Bertie County912.2+7.6%
84Greene County886.3+7.2%
85Northampton County875.7+5%
86Swain County832+7.4%
87Chowan County801.5+5.1%
88Perquimans County793.2+5.4%
89Warren County781+6.2%
90Mitchell County763.2+5.4%
91Pamlico County748.4+5.3%
92Camden County699.6+6.1%
93Clay County608.5+7.1%
94Alleghany County589.5+8.2%
95Gates County576.1+5.1%
96Washington County541+3.9%
97Jones County510.7+7.9%
98Graham County389.7+7.8%
99Hyde County260.2+5%
100Tyrrell County165.3+2.2%

Other periods

About this ranking

Total income received by the residents of a place from work, own businesses, property and government benefits, before income taxes, in millions of current US dollars. United States: Bureau of Economic Analysis regional accounts, table SAINC1 line 1 for the nation and states and CAINC1 line 1 for counties.

Counted where people live, not where they work. The national figure is the total of the states, which differs slightly from personal income in the national accounts. Divided by BEA population it gives per_capita_personal_income.

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. Bureau of Economic Analysis. CAINC1: county annual personal income summary, personal income (published in thousands of dollars, shown in millions), individual counties and county equivalents. https://apps.bea.gov/regional/zip/CAINC1.zip. 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 Economic Analysis. (2026). CAINC1: county annual personal income summary, personal income (published in thousands of dollars, shown in millions), individual counties and county equivalents (Counties in North Carolina by personal income, 2024) [Data set]. Retrieved October 12, 2026, from https://apps.bea.gov/regional/zip/CAINC1.zip

MLA 9

CAINC1: county annual personal income summary, personal income (published in thousands of dollars, shown in millions), individual counties and county equivalents, Counties in North Carolina by personal income, 2024. U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, 5 Feb. 2026, https://apps.bea.gov/regional/zip/CAINC1.zip. Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/personal-income/north-carolina-counties. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.

Chicago (author-date)

U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. 2026. CAINC1: county annual personal income summary, personal income (published in thousands of dollars, shown in millions), individual counties and county equivalents. Counties in North Carolina by personal income, 2024. Dataset. Accessed October 12, 2026. https://apps.bea.gov/regional/zip/CAINC1.zip. Also distributed by Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/personal-income/north-carolina-counties.

Harvard

U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (2026) CAINC1: county annual personal income summary, personal income (published in thousands of dollars, shown in millions), individual counties and county equivalents, Counties in North Carolina by personal income, 2024 [Dataset]. Available at: https://apps.bea.gov/regional/zip/CAINC1.zip, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/personal-income/north-carolina-counties (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX
@misc{bureau_counties_in_north_carolina_2024,
  author = {{U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis}},
  title = {{CAINC1: county annual personal income summary, personal income (published in thousands of dollars, shown in millions), individual counties and county equivalents: Counties in North Carolina by personal income, 2024}},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {Data set},
  url = {https://apps.bea.gov/regional/zip/CAINC1.zip},
  urldate = {2026-10-12},
  note = {Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/personal-income/north-carolina-counties. Publisher attribution: U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. CAINC1: county annual personal income summary, personal income (published in thousands of dollars, shown in millions), individual counties and county equivalents. https://apps.bea.gov/regional/zip/CAINC1.zip. Retrieved 2026-10-12.},
}
RIS
TY  - DATA
AU  - U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis
TI  - CAINC1: county annual personal income summary, personal income (published in thousands of dollars, shown in millions), individual counties and county equivalents: Counties in North Carolina by personal income, 2024
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/02/05
PB  - U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis
DB  - Invokely
UR  - https://apps.bea.gov/regional/zip/CAINC1.zip
L2  - https://invokely.ai/rankings/personal-income/north-carolina-counties
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/personal-income/north-carolina-counties.
N1  - Publisher attribution: U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. CAINC1: county annual personal income summary, personal income (published in thousands of dollars, shown in millions), individual counties and county equivalents. https://apps.bea.gov/regional/zip/CAINC1.zip. 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 personal income using official data, and cite the source.
rank_places {"indicator":"personal_income","level":"province","within":"North Carolina","limit":10}
GET https://invokely.ai/api/v1/rank?indicator=personal_income&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 personal income?

Wake County, with $105.46 billion in 2024, according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.

Which county has the lowest personal income?

Tyrrell County, with $165.3 million in 2024.

Where does this ranking come from?

Every value comes from one source and one period, so the places are comparable: U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, CAINC1: county annual personal income summary, personal income (published in thousands of dollars, shown in millions), individual counties and county equivalents. Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Personal income: other rankings

Counties in North Carolina: more rankings