Breaking it down: North Carolina's economy is made up of many parts. Here's a statistical summary of how they've fared.

• Position: BY THE NUMBERS

Maybe all politics are local, but statistics exist at many levels. On the following pages, you'll see numbers that help explain North Carolina's economy at the state, county and municipal levels. You'll also see stats for the state's seven regional economic-development partnerships. Recent results have been good, but prosperity is fickle.

Jobless rates fell by more than three percentage points in six counties between October '03 and October '04.

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Watauga County had the state's lowest unemployment rate in October, 1.5%, followed by Currituck's 1.8%. Vance had the highest rate, 11.2%, followed by Caldwell's 10.5%.

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UNEMPLOYMENT Jobless rates dropped in 95 counties between October 2003 and October 2004, compared with 58 the year before. The 12-county Charlotte Regional Partnership and the 16-county Northeast Partnership had the largest spread between their best and worst performers. The 13-county Eastern Region had the smallest. Regional Best-performing Change in Worst-performing Change in Partnership counties jobless county jobless rate* rate* AdvantageWest Transylvania (3.9) Caldwell, Madison 0.3 Charlotte Rowan (6.2) Union (0.3) Piedmont Triad Rockingham (3.0) Alamance (0.4) Research Lee (2.5) Johnston (0.8) Triangle Southeast Scotland (2.3) Bladen (0.8) Eastern Region Nash (1.5) Jones (0.3) Northeast Hyde (5.6) Camden 0.3 * From October 2003 to October 2004, in percentage points Source: Employment Security Commission ADVANTAGEWEST

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POPULATION (000s) COUNTY 1983 1993 2003 Alleghany 9.7 9.9 10.8 Ashe 22.6 22.7 25.1 Avery 14.6 15.3 18.1 Buncombe 163.7 185.5 212.2 Burke 73.2 79.4 88.8 Caldwell 67.6 72.7 78.1 Cherokee 19.3 21.3 25.3 Clay 6.9 7.6 9.4 Graham 7.2 7.4 8.0 Haywood 46.7 49.4 55.8 Henderson 62.6 75.7 94.5 Jackson 26.6 28.6 35.0 Macon 22.0 25.2 31.4 Madison 16.8 17.4 20.0 McDowell 35.7 36.7 43.1 Mitchell 14.2 14.8 15.9 Polk 13.7 15.6 18.9 Rutherford 54.9 58.8 63.4 Swain 10.7 11.6 13.4 Transylvania 24.3 27.0 29.5 Watauga 34.0 38.9 42.8 Wilkes 59.4 61.3 66.9 Yancey 15.0 16.0 17.9 REGION 821.6 898.8 1,024.3 NORTH CAROLINA 6,077.0 7,036.9 8,418.1 PER CAPITA INCOME (000s) COUNTY 1983 1993 2002 Alleghany 8.1 16.9 24.2 Ashe 7.8 15.9 24.0 Avery 7.7 17.7 22.6 Buncombe 10.7 20.4 27.3 Burke 9.8 17.6 23.9 Caldwell 9.8 17.6 25.4 Cherokee 7.5 13.3 19.4 Clay 7.2 14.7 21.5 Graham 7.3 12.9 20.7 Haywood 9.8 17.1 24.2 Henderson 11.7 20.8 28.1 Jackson 8.3 15.5 22.6 Macon 8.9 16.2 23.8 Madison 7.9 15.0 21.1 McDowell 8.6 16.0 20.9 Mitchell 8.8 15.3 19.9 Polk 11.9 22.8 31.7 Rutherford 9.2 16.6 22.3 Swain 6.7 13.1 19.3 Transylvania 10.4 18.4 26.4 Watauga 8.0 16.3 24.3 Wilkes 9.1 17.5 24.3 Yancey 7.1 14.0 19.7 REGION 9.5 17.8 24.7 NORTH CAROLINA 10.5 19.8 27.8 Source: N.C. Office of State Budget and Management EMPLOYMENT (000s) COUNTY 1983 1993 2003 Alleghany 3.7 4.6 4.4 Ashe 8.7 10.7 11.1 Avery 6.1 6.6 8.3 Buncombe 73.9 92.4 106.4 Burke 35.5 40.4 39.6 Caldwell 30.6 38.6 35.7 Cherokee 6.3 8.2 9.6 Clay 2.2 3.0 3.5 Graham 2.5 3.6 4.0 Haywood 16.9 21.8 23.3 Henderson 26.2 31.4 41.6 Jackson 13.3 13.3 16.9 Macon 17.4 11.1 9.2 Madison 8.7 8.0 10.1 McDowell 8.2 17.9 15.2 Mitchell 6.2 6.2 6.6 Polk 5.6 6.9 8.3 Rutherford 25.1 28.4 26.6 Swain 4.2 5.1 7.4 Transylvania 10.0 10.7 9.5 Watauga 15.6 20.2 24.8 Wilkes 28.7 30.4 30.7 Yancey 5.1 5.7 5.6 REGION 360.6 425.2 458.5 NORTH CAROLINA 2,674.0 3,381.0 3,956.9 Source: Employment Security Commission EMPLOYMENT BY INDUSTRY SECTOR Accommodation/food services 36,241 Administrative/waste services 15,227 Construction 21,912 Health care/social assistance 49,717 Manufacturing 78,864 Professional/technical 9,483 Retail 48,479 Wholesale 11,261 Other 54,706 Source: Employment Security Commission, 2003 Note: Table made from pie chart. FOR MORE INFORMATION

AdvantageWest; 3 General Aviation Drive, Fletcher, NC 28732; Telephone: (828) 687-7234; Fax: (828) 687-7552; www.awnc.org

CHARLOTTE REGIONAL PARTNERSHIP

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POPULATION (000s) COUNTY 1983 1993 2003 Alexander 25.9 29.1 34.6 Anson 25.2 24.4 25.2 Cabarrus 90.0 106.0 143.3 Catawba 109.0 124.3 146.5 Cleveland 82.7 88.3 97.5 Gaston 166.9 179.6 191.3 Iredell 84.8 99.7 133.3 Lincoln 43.6 54.2 67.3 Mecklenburg 428.2 558.3 750.1 Rowan 101.9 115.6 133.2 Stanly 49.0 53.2 58.9 Union 74.1 92.6 144.7 REGION 1,281.3 1,525.4 1,926.0 NORTH CAROLINA 6,077.0 7,036.9 8,418.1 Source: N.C. Office of State Budget and Management PER CAPITA INCOME (000s) COUNTY 1983 1993 2002 Alexander $9.3 $17.6 $24.4 Anson 7.5 16.5 22.0 Cabarrus 11.0 20.3 29.6 Catawba 11.2 21.3 26.9 Cleveland 9.7 17.4 23.1 Gaston 10.2 18.9 27.3 Iredell 10.6 19.3 26.9 Lincoln 10.2 17.8 23.5 Mecklenburg 13.3 25.9 38.6 Rowan 10.5 17.8 25.0 Stanly 9.9 17.2 23.1 Union 10.2 17.9 26.3 REGION 11.3 21.4 30.9 NORTH CAROLINA 10.5 19.8 27.8 Source: N.C. Office of State Budget and Management EMPLOYMENT BY INDUSTRY SECTOR Accommodation/food services 68,348 Administrative/waste services 61,880 Construction 56,612 Finance/insurance 55,921 Health care/social assistance 73,163 Manufacturing 159,952 Retail 106,375 Wholesale 52,858 Other 195,712 Source: Employment Security Commission, 2003 Note: Table made from pie chart. EMPLOYMENT (000s) COUNTY 1983 1993 2003 Alexander 12.3 15.7 16.0 Anson 11.2 10.5 9.7 Cabarrus 44.1 54.2 71.2 Catawba 51.7 68.9 70.4 Cleveland 33.9 42.4 39.3 Gaston 82.2 89.7 95.7 Iredell 36.2 51.8 65.6 Lincoln 21.4 27.6 33.6 Mecklenburg 207.6 296.3 393.7 Rowan 49.9 56.0 64.0 Stanly 20.5 26.0 24.3 Union 36.4 46.8 70.3 REGION 607.4 786.0 953.8 NORTH CAROLINA 2,674.0 3,381.0 3,956.9 Source: Employment Security Commission RETAIL SALES (millions) COUNTY 1984* 1994* 2004* Alexander $75.0 $121.9 $219.5 Anson 96.3 111.3 171.5 Cabarrus 497.0 883.8 2,326.6 Catawba 1,076.1 1,663.9 2,556.2 Cleveland 501.1 809.6 969.7 Gaston 1,048.9 1,576.9 2,160.3 Iredell 607.5 1,111.8 2,079.6 Lincoln 189.5 321.6 647.8 Mecklenburg 6,493.4 10,386.9 16,757.1 Rowan 554.1 788.0 1,124.5 Stanly 298.0 438.9 643.8 Union 419.1 778.8 1,456.8 REGION 11,855.8 18,993.2 31,113.3 NORTH CAROLINA 47,716.2 72,094.6 140,111.9 Source: N.C. Department of Revenue *Fiscal year ending in June FOR MORE INFORMATION

Charlotte Regional Partnership; 1001 Morehead Square Drive, Suite 200, Charlotte, NC 28203; Telephone: (704) 347-8942; Fax: (704) 347-8981; www.charlotteusa.com

PIEDMONT TRIAD PARTNERSHIP

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POPULATION (000s) COUNTY 1983 1993 2003 Alamance 101.5 113.9 136.4 Caswell 21.4 21.4 23.7 Davidson 116.9 133.0 151.9 Davie 25.6 29.3 37.1 Forsyth 251.2 275.9 317.9 Guilford 324.7 367.5 431.1 Montgomery 22.9 24.0 27.3 Randolph 94.8 112.4 134.9 Rockingham 84.7 87.3 92.4 Stokes 34.4 39.1 45.7 Surry 59.8 64.1 71.9 Yadkin 29.2 32.0 36.9 REGION 1,167.0 1,300.0 1,507.4 NORTH CAROLINA 6,077.0 7,036.9 8,418.1 Source: N.C. Office of State Budget and Management PER CAPITA INCOME (000s) COUNTY 1983 1993 2002 Alamance $11.2 $19.6 $26.3 Caswell 7.4 14.4 21.5 Davidson 10.2 18.3 25.9 Davie 11.1 21.9 28.7 Forsyth 13.3 24.6 31.2 Guilford 12.8 23.5 31.3 Montgomery 8.6 15.8 22.4 Randolph 10.2...