Piecing it together; Here's how everything fits: a look at North Carolina's regions, counties and largest cities by the numbers.

• Position: BY THE NUMBERS

All I want to do is make some money," the Kinks sang in their ode to unemployment, Get Back in Line. By most measures, Tar Heel workers are doing a lot better than that. Per capita income is up, and the jobless rate dropped from 5.3% in October 2005 to 4.7% in October 2006. The following pages show how the state's economy has changed.

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UNEMPLOYMENT Unemployment rates dropped in 79 counties from October 2005 to October 2006, compared with 36 the year before. The 16-county Northeast partnership had the largest spread between best and worst performers. The 12-county Charlotte Regional Partnership had the smallest. Change in Change in Regional Best-performing jobless Worst-performing jobless Partnership counties rate* counties rate* AdvantageWest Caldwell (2.0) Clay 0.1 Charlotte Cleveland, (0.9) Rowan 0.0 Gaston Piedmont Surry (0.9) Yadkin 0.6 Triad Research Vance (1.3) Person 0.7 Triangle Southeast Bladen (1.4) Cumberland 0.2 Eastern Duplin (1.6) Pamlico 0.3 Region Northeast Tyrrell (1.8) Camden, Currituck 2.3 * From October 2005 to October 2006, in percentage points Source: Employment Security Commission ADVANTAGEWEST

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POPULATION (000s) COUNTY 1985 1995 2005 Alleghany 9.5 9.9 10.9 Ashe 22.7 23.1 25.3 Avery 14.7 15.4 18.2 Buncombe 167.1 193.2 217.4 Burke 74.4 83.2 89.1 Caldwell 69.9 74.1 78.8 Cherokee 19.7 22.3 26.1 Clay 7.0 7.9 9.8 Graham 7.3 7.7 8.1 Haywood 47.3 50.6 57.1 Henderson 65.1 79.4 97.8 Jackson 26.7 30.2 36.2 Macon 22.8 26.6 32.3 Madison 17.0 18.0 20.4 McDowell 35.8 37.9 43.6 Mitchell 14.4 15.3 16.1 Polk 14.0 16.4 19.2 Rutherford 56.1 60.3 63.4 Swain 10.8 11.8 13.6 Transylvania 24.9 27.5 29.9 Watauga 35.1 40.9 43.0 Wilkes 59.9 62.7 67.4 Yancey 15.3 16.5 18.2 REGION 837.8 930.9 1,169.5 NORTH CAROLINA 6,255.0 7,336.2 8,663.7 Source: N.C. Office of State Budget and Management PER CAPITA INCOME (000s) COUNTY 1984 1994 2004 Alleghany $9.0 $17.7 $25.4 Ashe 9.0 17.0 24.5 Avery 9.0 17.9 24.1 Buncombe 11.9 20.4 28.0 Burke 10.9 18.3 24.6 Caldwell 10.7 18.1 25.9 Cherokee 8.2 13.8 20.5 Clay 8.6 15.2 22.1 Graham 7.8 13.6 22.2 Haywood 11.0 18.1 25.3 Henderson 12.8 21.5 28.7 Jackson 9.1 15.3 23.7 Macon 10.0 16.9 24.5 Madison 8.7 15.7 22.3 McDowell 9.4 17.1 22.0 Mitchell 9.7 15.3 20.6 Polk 13.3 23.9 32.3 Rutherford 10.0 17.1 23.5 Swain 7.3 13.3 21.1 Transylvania 11.6 18.8 25.5 Watauga 9.0 16.6 26.0 Wilkes 10.7 18.1 26.8 Yancey 8.0 14.9 20.3 REGION 10.6 18.3 25.6 NORTH CAROLINA 11.8 20.4 29.3 Source: N.C. Office of State Budget and Management EMPLOYMENT (000s) COUNTY 1985 1995 2005 Alleghany 4.3 4.8 4.5 Ashe 9.7 10.5 12.0 Avery 7.7 6.8 7.5 Buncombe 80.9 92.3 111.0 Burke 38.7 40.7 39.4 Caldwell 34.7 38.5 36.9 Cherokee 7.3 8.9 9.7 Clay 2.5 3.3 4.2 Graham 2.0 3.7 3.7 Haywood 19.9 21.7 26.4 Henderson 29.3 33.5 44.5 Jackson 11.1 13.6 20.3 Macon 10.1 11.8 14.7 Madison 6.6 8.0 9.3 McDowell 14.6 18.7 19.5 Mitchell 6.9 6.3 7.1 Polk 5.7 7.1 8.6 Rutherford 26.1 28.2 26.7 Swain 4.6 4.8 6.7 Transylvania 10.3 10.3 11.6 Watauga 16.2 21.1 23.5 Wilkes 30.4 30.4 30.7 Yancey 7.5 5.7 7.3 REGION 386.9 430.8 486.0 NORTH CAROLINA 2,949.0 3,473.5 4,105.7 Source: Employment Security Commission EMPLOYMENT BY INDUSTRY SECTOR Accommodation/food services 37,988 Administrative/waste services 15,016 Construction 23,991 Education 37,542 Health care/social assistance 62,133 Manufacturing 70,411 Public/administration 24,342 Retail 50,076 Other 80,520 Source: Employment Security Commission, 2005 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 1985 1995...