SUMMARY ABILITY TO PAY INFORMATION

The North Carolina Public School Forum (www.ncforum.org) annually compiles information on the ability of each of the state’s 100 counties to support public schools as well as the actual local effort to support K-12 education.   The information is published as the North Carolina School Finance Study, which is available at their web site.

According to faculty at the Institute of Government, this data on county financial resources provides the most reliable information available for North Carolina on local government’s ability to pay. 

Because the study focuses on schools, the comparisons are based on school attendance, called “average daily membership (ADM).”  For determining a county’s overall ability to pay, the State Library has also adjusted the calculations to determine the per capita resources.

The summary table below lists the counties by their per capita rank (with “1” being the wealthiest, and “100” being the poorest.)  An Excel spreadsheet of the table is available, and the full school finance study is at http://www.ncforum.org/doclib/lsfs-order.aspx

 

County	Percent of State Average Revenue Per POP	Rank, Revenue Per POP	Rank, Revenue Per ADM	Percent of State Average Revenue Per ADM
Dare	260.4%	1	1	266.0%
Mecklenburg	186.2%	2	2	197.0%
Currituck	182.2%	3	9	163.1%
Wake	177.1%	4	3	175.5%
Carteret	150.9%	5	6	167.5%
Macon	149.0%	6	4	175.0%
Brunswick	145.0%	7	8	164.4%
New Hanover	140.6%	8	7	164.6%
Avery	139.9%	9	11	156.4%
Chatham	130.5%	10	14	139.0%
Moore	128.3%	11	18	134.2%
Polk	127.8%	12	12	155.1%
Forsyth	126.5%	13	19	133.5%
Alleghany	126.4%	14	13	149.4%
Watauga	126.0%	15	5	172.5%
Guilford	119.6%	16	20	125.2%
Transylvania	119.1%	17	17	135.1%
Durham	118.3%	18	16	135.8%
Davie	117.2%	19	23	111.8%
Jackson	114.8%	20	10	162.6%
Cabarrus	114.5%	21	27	101.3%
Henderson	113.8%	22	15	137.1%
Iredell	108.4%	23	29	96.8%
Orange	107.1%	24	21	122.6%
Catawba	106.5%	25	28	100.4%
Buncombe	105.5%	26	22	118.5%
Clay	96.1%	27	25	106.0%
Union	95.4%	28	32	81.4%
Alamance	88.5%	29	31	87.2%
Lee	88.1%	30	36	76.8%
Ashe	85.5%	31	26	103.7%
Haywood	84.5%	32	30	93.0%
Person	83.1%	33	34	78.8%
Hyde	83.0%	34	24	111.0%
Wilkes	80.3%	35	33	80.1%
Davidson	79.0%	36	38	74.4%
Nash	78.3%	37	66	58.1%
Randolph	74.5%	38	44	71.4%
Surry	74.2%	39	39	72.8%
Pamlico	74.0%	40	42	71.5%
Lincoln	73.7%	41	50	66.9%
Johnston	73.6%	42	49	66.9%
Craven	72.9%	43	41	71.7%
Rowan	72.4%	44	40	72.8%
Pender	72.3%	45	43	71.5%
Beaufort	71.2%	46	47	68.7%
Yadkin	70.2%	47	46	69.0%
Wilson	70.0%	48	55	65.0%
Camden	69.1%	49	65	58.4%
Yancey	69.1%	50	35	77.3%
Alexander	66.9%	51	52	65.2%
Stanly	66.7%	52	63	60.1%
Graham	66.6%	53	45	70.0%
Stokes	66.2%	54	56	63.6%
Gaston	66.1%	55	54	65.0%
Montgomery	66.1%	56	59	62.0%
Caldwell	65.5%	57	57	63.2%
Rutherford	64.3%	58	58	62.9%
Pitt	64.2%	59	48	68.1%
Mitchell	63.0%	60	51	65.3%
Franklin	62.7%	61	61	61.4%
Madison	62.4%	62	37	76.3%
Chowan	62.2%	63	68	58.0%
Rockingham	61.7%	64	60	61.5%
Cherokee	61.5%	65	53	65.1%
Granville	60.6%	66	69	57.5%
Burke	60.4%	67	64	58.4%
Cleveland	59.6%	68	71	52.7%
Lenoir	59.1%	69	70	53.8%
McDowell	58.4%	70	62	60.5%
Martin	57.6%	71	77	48.9%
Perquimans	57.4%	72	67	58.0%
Vance	55.9%	73	80	45.8%
Pasquotank	54.8%	74	73	51.3%
Tyrrell	54.7%	75	76	49.4%
Cumberland	53.5%	76	75	49.9%
Bladen	53.3%	77	78	47.8%
Wayne	50.9%	78	79	46.7%
Anson	50.8%	79	81	45.2%
Scotland	50.3%	80	89	40.2%
Duplin	49.2%	81	82	44.6%
Sampson	47.2%	82	85	42.8%
Columbus	47.1%	83	88	40.6%
Onslow	46.0%	84	72	51.8%
Richmond	43.3%	85	92	38.3%
Swain	43.1%	86	74	50.7%
Gates	42.8%	87	96	35.2%
Caswell	42.5%	88	83	44.3%
Warren	41.8%	89	87	40.8%
Halifax	41.1%	90	94	36.5%
Hertford	40.8%	91	93	37.0%
Harnett	40.6%	92	95	35.6%
Greene	40.4%	93	90	40.0%
Jones	39.6%	94	84	44.1%
Bertie	39.6%	95	97	34.2%
Northampton	39.5%	96	91	38.3%
Edgecombe	36.9%	97	86	42.6%
Washington	33.6%	98	98	31.7%
Robeson	26.7%	99	99	21.9%
Hoke	24.5%	100	100	21.1%