2024 North Carolina Tier Rankings are in.

2024 North Carolina Tier Rankings are in. Main Photo

30 Nov 2023


The North Carolina Department of Commerce released the county tier designations for 2024 today. The designations, which are mandated by state law, play a role in several programs that assist in economic development.

The 2024 rankings comply with the methodology prescribed by the North Carolina General Assembly in General Statue §143B-437.08, which identifies four economic factors to be compiled and calculated by N.C. Commerce and then used to analyze and rank each of North Carolina’s 100 counties. Each county is then assigned its tier designation ranking from one to three. Tier 1 counties are generally the most economically distressed and Tier 3 counties are generally the least economically distressed.

The rankings are based on an assessment of each county’s unemployment rate, median household income, population growth, and assessed property value per capita.  The law calls for 40 counties to be designated as Tier 1, 40 counties to be designated as Tier 2, and 20 counties to be designated Tier 3. To read the full article click here.