character
White residents
Why this matters
Non-Hispanic White residents are people who identify as White and not Hispanic or Latino. Like all race and ethnicity counts, it reflects how people describe themselves on the census, not a biological category. It is one piece of a community’s overall makeup.
Tracking this share helps communities understand diversity and how it is changing. Nationally, the non-Hispanic White share has been gradually declining as other groups grow, and that pattern looks different from place to place.
The figure matters most alongside the others. Comparing group shares over time is how researchers study segregation, fair access to housing and services, and whether public institutions reflect the people they serve. No share is good or bad on its own; it is context for equity and planning.
In Charlotte, this share traces the well-known "crescent vs. wedge" geography from the affluent side: the higher-income, predominantly White wedge that fans southeast from uptown. No share is good or bad on its own; the point is that the region’s institutions sorted opportunity along these lines.
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. Census Bureau — Why We Ask: Race census.gov
Explains how race is self-reported and how the data support civil rights and planning.
- Leading on Opportunity — The Impact of Segregation leadingonopportunity.org
How Charlotte’s crescent/wedge segregation shapes opportunity and mobility.
- Brookings — The nation is diversifying even faster than predicted brookings.edu
Analysis of long-run trends in the White population share and growing U.S. diversity.
About the data
Calculated from the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (2014–2024), at the Census-tract level, with margins of error. ACS 5-year vintages overlap year to year, so the series is a rolling estimate; compare only non-overlapping periods.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates.