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 North Carolina
Data followed by an * indicates a Significant Difference at the 90 percent level between that data and the data from the most current year.  Data followed by a "c" indicates the estimate for that year and the current year are both controlled; a statistical test is not appropriate.
TABLE 2. SELECTED SOCIAL CHARACTERISTICS
  2003
Estimate		 2002
Estimate		 2001
Estimate		 2000
Estimate
SCHOOL ENROLLMENT
Population 3 years and over enrolled in school
2,084,816
2,064,015
2,020,261 *
1,932,791 *
Nursery school, preschool
5.89%
6.38%
6.47%
5.21%
Kindergarten
5.94%
5.80%
5.67%
5.59%
Elementary school (grades 1-8)
44.06%
45.45% *
46.38% *
47.22% *
High school grade (grades 9-12)
21.19%
21.27%
21.10%
20.22% *
College or graduate school
22.91%
21.10%
20.38% *
21.76%
 
EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT
Population 25 years and over
5,356,059
5,308,455 *
5,181,994 *
5,150,795 *
Less than 9th grade
7.19%
7.29%
7.50%
7.97% *
9th to 12th grade, no diploma
12.68%
13.10%
14.52% *
14.62% *
High school graduate (including equivalency)
29.23%
29.38%
28.81%
29.43%
Some college, no degree
18.91%
19.51%
19.48%
19.15%
Associate degree
7.72%
7.30%
6.88% *
6.87% *
Bachelor's degree
16.46%
15.70%
15.78%
15.30%
Graduate or professional degree
7.80%
7.73%
7.03%
6.66% *
 
Percent high school graduate or higher
80.1
79.6
78.0 *
77.4 *
Percent bachelor's degree or higher
24.3
23.4
22.8
22.0 *
 
MARITAL STATUS
Males 15 years and over
3,082,111
3,047,711 *
2,980,094 *
2,952,828 *
Never married
28.33%
27.33%
27.11%
26.75% *
Now married, except separated
58.23%
58.99%
59.74%
60.12% *
Separated
2.59%
2.70%
2.87%
2.61%
Widowed
2.47%
2.48%
2.25%
2.36%
Divorced
8.38%
8.50%
8.03%
8.15%
 
Females 15 years and over
3,320,020
3,275,108 *
3,211,475 *
3,191,452 *
Never married
22.84%
21.99%
21.44% *
21.75%
Now married, except separated
52.60%
53.16%
55.18% *
53.75%
Separated
3.49%
3.73%
3.57%
3.61%
Widowed
10.71%
10.54%
10.35%
11.00%
Divorced
10.37%
10.59%
9.47% *
9.89%
 
FERTILITY
Number of women 15 to 50 years old who had a birth in the past 12 months
115,810
129,463
125,993
123,809
Unmarried women (widowed, divorced, and never married)
33.48%
27.34%
30.03%
36.31%
Per 1,000 unmarried women
41
39
44
51
As a percent of all women with a birth
33.5
27.3
30.0
36.3
Per 1,000 women 15 to 50 years old
55
62
61
60
Per 1,000 women 15 to 19 years old
33
32
42
51 *
Per 1,000 women 20 to 34 years old
104
113
117
114
Per 1,000 women 35 to 50 years old
18
26 *
18
16
 
GRANDPARENTS
Number of grandparents with own grandchildren under 18 years in households
162,692
150,234
172,614
155,530
Responsible for grandchildren
53.13%
52.62%
48.41%
56.40%
 
Characteristics of grandparents responsible for own grandchildren under 18 years
Percent Responsible for grandchildren
less than 1 year
19.42%
19.45%
22.32%
36.47% *
1 or 2 years
23.30%
23.43%
16.33% *
12.81% *
3 or 4 years
12.66%
10.66%
19.88% *
12.44%
5 or more years
44.62%
46.46%
41.48%
38.28%
 
Percent who are female
64.6
62.6
61.3
67.2
Percent who are married
73.1
68.1
73.4
70.7
Percent who are in labor force
57.1
57.1
55.5
58.9
Percent who are in poverty
23.7
25.2
23.4
21.8
 
VETERAN STATUS
Civilian population 18 years and over
6,030,810
5,948,298 *
5,813,123 *
5,780,076 *
Civilian veterans
12.06%
13.03%
12.76%
12.49%
 
RESIDENCE 1 YEAR AGO
Population 1 year and over
8,036,666
7,958,714 *
7,819,403 *
7,696,081 *
Same house
84.29%
83.68%
84.39%
83.17%
Different house in the U.S.
15.14%
15.76%
14.82%
16.10%
Same county
9.82%
10.08%
8.65% *
8.94% *
Different county
5.32%
5.68%
6.17% *
7.15% *
Same state
2.98%
2.87%
2.86%
4.06% *
Different state
2.34%
2.81%
3.31% *
3.09% *
Abroad
0.57%
0.57%
0.78%
0.73%
 
PLACE OF BIRTH, CITIZENSHIP, AND YEAR OF ENTRY
Total population
8,146,508
8,063,874 c
7,932,350 c
7,795,432 c
Native
93.83%
94.04%
94.20%
94.76% *
Born in United States
92.92%
93.11%
93.31% *
93.89% *
State of residence
63.76%
62.79%
63.69%
64.07%
Different state
29.16%
30.32%
29.62%
29.82%
Born in Puerto Rico, U.S. Island areas, or born abroad to American parent(s)
0.91%
0.93%
0.88%
0.88%
Foreign born
6.17%
5.96%
5.80%
5.24% *
Naturalized citizen
23.55%
24.00%
24.70%
23.42%
Not a citizen
76.45%
76.00%
75.30%
76.58%
Entered 1990 or later
70.79%
67.26%
66.95%
61.27% *
Entered before 1990
29.21%
32.74% *
33.05% *
38.73% *
 
REGION OF BIRTH OF FOREIGN BORN
Foreign-born population with region of birth reported
502,776
480,248
460,325 *
408,294 *
Europe
11.53%
12.64%
12.13%
12.47%
Asia
21.90%
19.47% *
22.05%
20.60%
Africa
5.17%
6.02%
7.02%
4.26%
Oceania
0.52%
0.30%
0.60%
0.78%
Latin America
57.15%
58.57%
54.95%
59.17%
Northern America
3.73%
3.00%
3.24%
2.71%
 
LANGUAGE SPOKEN AT HOME
Population 5 years and over
7,557,056
7,484,143 *
7,349,498 *
7,255,097 *
English only
91.78%
91.80%
92.49% *
92.85% *
Language other than English
8.22%
8.20%
7.51% *
7.15% *
Speak English less than "very well"
4.20%
4.15%
3.67% *
3.40% *
Spanish
5.23%
5.37%
4.63% *
4.60% *
Speak English less than "very well"
3.24%
3.15%
2.59% *
2.57% *
Other Indo-European languages
1.59%
1.43%
1.56%
1.19% *
Speak English less than "very well"
0.37%
0.31%
0.42%
0.28%
Asian and Pacific Islander languages
1.14%
1.10%
1.02%
1.12%
Speak English less than "very well"
0.55%
0.58%
0.56%
0.49%
Other languages
0.26%
0.30%
0.30%
0.24%
Speak English less than "very well"
0.04%
0.11% *
0.09% *
0.07%
 
ANCESTRY (TOTAL REPORTED)
Total Population
8,146,508
8,063,874 c
7,932,350 c
7,795,432 c
Arab
0.24%
0.22%
0.22%
0.28%
Czech
0.12%
0.19% *
0.13%
0.17%
Danish
0.18%
0.17%
0.18%
0.16%
Dutch
1.48%
1.59%
1.58%
1.30%
English
12.33%
11.89%
11.87%
11.34%
French (except Basque)
2.17%
2.03%
2.09%
2.07%
French Canadian
0.34%
0.35%
0.33%
0.30%
German
12.65%
12.03%
11.93%
11.82%
Greek
0.22%
0.32%
0.27%
0.28%
Hungarian
0.22%
0.29%
0.20%
0.18%
Irish
9.02%
9.07%
8.49%
8.82%
Italian
2.65%
2.88%
2.90%
2.46%
Lithuanian
0.10%
0.08%
0.08%
0.07%
Norwegian
0.42%
0.34%
0.43%
0.48%
Polish
1.23%
1.46%
1.39%
1.11%
Portuguese
0.11%
0.10%
0.08%
0.11%
Russian
0.46%
0.46%
0.32% *
0.38%
Scotch-Irish
4.18%
4.32%
3.74% *
3.84%
Scottish
3.11%
2.73%
2.90%
2.60% *
Slovak
0.06%
0.11%
0.10%
0.07%
Subsaharan African
0.79%
0.69%
0.59%
0.51% *
Swedish
0.52%
0.59%
0.56%
0.55%
Swiss
0.16%
0.20%
0.12%
0.12%
Ukrainian
0.14%
0.09%
0.17%
0.08%
United States or American
11.94%
12.56%
13.03%
14.33% *
Welsh
0.45%
0.54%
0.59%
0.50%
West Indian (excluding Hispanic origin groups)
0.22%
0.20%
0.13%
0.14%
 
Profile Navigation
  
Viewing 2003 Multiyear Profile for North Carolina
  Demographic - Table 1
  Social - Table 2
  Economic - Table 3
  Housing - Table 4

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See footnotes below.

Footnotes

The profile universe is limited to the household population and excludes the population living in institutions, college dormitories, and other group quarters. Data are based on a sample and are subject to sampling variability.

Ancestry listed in this table refers to the total number of reports; for example, the estimate given for Russian represents the number of people who listed Russian as either their first or second ancestry. This table lists only the largest ancestry groups; see the Detailed Tables for more categories. Race and Hispanic origin groups are not included in this table because official data for those groups come from the Race and Hispanic origin questions rather than the ancestry question (see Table 1).

1. An '-' entry in an Estimate column indicates that no sample observations were available to compute an estimate.
2. An '-' following a median estimate means the median falls in the lowest interval of an open-ended distribution.
3. An '+' following a median estimate means the median falls in the upper interval of an open-ended distribution.
4. An 'N' entry in an Estimate column indicates that data for this geographic area cannot be displayed because the number of sample cases is too small.

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Source: U.S. Census Bureau  |  American Community Survey Office  |  Page Last Modified: August 29, 2007