Author: Jeff DeBellils
Before reading on, answer this question: Where in North Carolina have we seen the greatest growth in workers working from home? You may be thinking it’s the largest metros, where technology, finance, and other professional jobs dominate, like Charlotte, the Triangle, or Triad. Or maybe it’s a place in the mountains or on the coast, like Asheville or Wilmington, where the natural beauty might attract workers with the flexibility to work anywhere. Or maybe it’s a smaller metro, like Hickory, Rocky Mount, or Fayetteville, that’s within proximity to a bigger city but with lower costs and less noise and congestion.
According to data from the US Census Bureau, the share of the US workforce that worked the majority of the week at home rose from 5.7% in 2019 to 17.9% in 2021 – an increase in the number of at-home workers of more than 200%. North Carolina’s growth was not quite as fast (177%) but the overall share of at-home workers (18.8% in 2021) remained higher than the national average, as it was in 2019 (6.7%).
As for where in NC growth in at-home workers has been the greatest, Durham-Chapel Hill led the way with nearly four times the number of workers primarily at home in 2021 as in 2019 (an increase of 279%). MSAs in the Charlotte, Triangle, and the Triad areas all grew faster than the state. Speculation that large numbers of urban dwellers relocated to the mountains or the coast to take advantage of remote work opportunities is not supported by this data, at least not for 2021. The Asheville (55%), New Bern (62%), and Wilmington (61%) MSAs experienced NC’s lowest growth in at home workers between 2019-2021.
While the state’s smallest MSAs saw a strong jump in at-home workers, they represent the regions with the lowest shares of their workforce working from home. In general, large metros and their urban and suburban counties experienced higher shares of at-home workers than more rural parts of the state. In fact, North Carolina’s top three regions, Raleigh-Cary (#5), Durham-Chapel Hill (#10), and Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia (#16) ranked among the top MSAs nationally in their share of at-home workers.
This data is also available at the county-level, again highlighting the prominence of at-home work in the state's largest MSAs. At-home work is under 20% in 92 of the state's counties.
Share of At-Home Workers in 2021 by NC Counties
Chatham | 35.5% | Onslow | 12.8% | |
Wake | 32.2% | Moore | 12.7% | |
Orange | 30.2% | Carteret | 12.7% | |
Franklin | 29.2% | Alamance | 12.5% | |
Mecklenburg | 29.0% | Wilkes | 11.9% | |
Union | 28.9% | Nash | 11.9% | |
Durham | 24.9% | Randolph | 11.8% | |
Cabarrus | 23.1% | Henderson | 10.9% | |
Johnston | 19.0% | Rockingham | 10.4% | |
Lincoln | 18.4% | Caldwell | 10.0% | |
Iredell | 18.2% | Rowan | 9.5% | |
Gaston | 18.0% | Craven | 8.4% | |
Brunswick | 17.3% | Cleveland | 7.9% | |
Buncombe | 16.2% | Catawba | 7.9% | |
Harnett | 15.9% | Wilson | 7.6% | |
New Hanover | 14.9% | Cumberland | 7.1% | |
Forsyth | 14.8% | Burke | 6.5% | |
Guilford | 14.4% | Surry | 5.7% | |
Davidson | 14.4% | Wayne | 5.6% | |
Pitt | 13.7% | Robeson | 4.4% |
Source: US Census Bureau American Community Survey. 2021 data is only available for 40 NC counties, representing 93% of North Carolinians working from home.
But how and where people work may change as we move further from the pandemic and high-speed broadband becomes more accessible across the state. Actually, there’s already evidence suggesting that working from home may already have changed since 2021.LEAD’s NC Business Pulse Survey of employers shows that the share of employees working remotely at least part-time dropped slightly in early 2022 and has since leveled off. Other reports confirm some staying power in at least hybrid work schedules and that a return to pre-pandemic work conditions, at least for some workers, is unlikely in the near-term.