environment
Wetlands
Why this matters
Wetlands are areas where water covers the soil for much of the year, such as marshes, swamps, and bogs. This measure shows what share of an area’s land is wetland.
Wetlands act like natural sponges. They soak up heavy rain and storm runoff, which lowers flooding for nearby homes and roads. They also clean water by trapping pollution and sediment before it reaches rivers and drinking-water supplies.
Wetlands are among the richest wildlife habitats anywhere. They have been drained and filled for farms and development for centuries, so tracking how much remains helps a community protect free flood control, cleaner water, and habitat that are hard and costly to replace.
About the Charlotte region
This explorer covers the 14-county, two-state Charlotte region (11 North Carolina and 3 South Carolina counties). Many of these indicators connect to a defining regional story: a landmark Harvard study ranked Charlotte last, 50th of the 50 largest U.S. metros for economic mobility (a child raised in the poorest fifth had about a 4.4% chance of reaching the top fifth), a finding that launched the region's Leading on Opportunity agenda. Updated 2024 data show Charlotte has since climbed to 38th.
Opportunity here is also unevenly mapped. An affluent “wedge” fanning southeast from uptown holds a large majority of the city's wealth on under a quarter of its land, while a ”crescent” to the north, west, and east carries higher poverty, a legacy of redlining, exclusionary zoning, and highway routing that recurs across the race, income, health, tree-canopy, and school maps in this tool. No single indicator is good or bad on its own; together they describe how the region sorted opportunity.
Companion resources: Charlotte-Mecklenburg Quality of Life Explorer · UNC Charlotte Urban Institute · Opportunity Atlas · Methods & sources
Learn more
- U.S. EPA — Why Are Wetlands Important? epa.gov
How wetlands control floods, clean water, and support wildlife.
- U.S. Fish & Wildlife — National Wetlands Inventory fws.gov
The federal program that maps and tracks the nation’s wetlands.
About the data
Derived from the USGS National Land Cover Database (2001–2021), a 30-metre satellite land-cover product. Tract values are area-weighted zonal statistics (exact pixel fractions) of the classified raster. As a wall-to-wall classification it carries no sampling margin of error.
Source: U.S. Geological Survey, National Land Cover Database (NLCD).