SUMMARY ABILITY TO PAY INFORMATION  

2008-2009 LSTA Grant Programs

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/filelist.aspx .

 

County Percent of State Average Revenue Per Pop Rank per Pop Rank per ADM Percent of State Average Revenue Per ADM
DARE 425.9% 1 1 476.9%
CURRITUCK 219.5% 2 5 204.7%
MECKLENBURG 173.8% 3 9 180.5%
MACON 168.9% 4 4 207.6%
CARTERET 161.9% 5 7 189.7%
WATAUGA 160.2% 6 2 236.7%
AVERY 154.4% 7 8 181.6%
BRUNSWICK 153.6% 8 6 190.4%
JACKSON 149.4% 9 3 222.7%
WAKE 146.6% 10 14 146.9%
NEW HANOVER 137.3% 11 10 165.6%
CHATHAM 135.0% 12 13 151.2%
MOORE 134.6% 13 16 143.8%
TRANSYLVANIA 133.6% 14 12 158.3%
POLK 132.4% 15 11 163.8%
ORANGE 128.7% 16 17 139.8%
ALLEGHANY 120.0% 17 18 137.1%
IREDELL 119.0% 18 26 106.7%
GUILFORD 117.4% 19 24 119.5%
FORSYTH 113.5% 20 25 117.0%
CABARRUS 113.0% 21 28 97.6%
DURHAM 111.1% 22 21 130.8%
HENDERSON 109.8% 23 19 134.8%
CLAY 109.0% 24 20 132.9%
HYDE 107.1% 25 15 145.5%
BUNCOMBE 104.5% 26 23 120.0%
ASHE 101.8% 27 22 127.4%
DAVIE 99.8% 28 29 97.2%
UNION 97.4% 29 33 84.3%
HAYWOOD 92.4% 30 27 105.0%
CATAWBA 90.9% 31 30 88.0%
PERSON 85.0% 32 36 81.2%
LINCOLN 83.8% 33 42 76.0%
PAMLICO 81.3% 34 34 84.3%
WILKES 80.2% 35 35 83.3%
ALAMANCE 79.8% 36 40 77.4%
CHEROKEE 76.6% 37 31 84.9%
CRAVEN 76.4% 38 39 78.3%
PENDER 75.9% 39 38 78.3%
BEAUFORT 75.8% 40 44 74.0%
LEE 75.2% 41 47 69.8%
NASH 75.1% 42 72 57.1%
YANCEY 75.0% 43 32 84.6%
JOHNSTON 74.6% 44 55 65.4%
ROWAN 74.0% 45 43 74.9%
CAMDEN 72.8% 46 66 61.8%
DAVIDSON 72.7% 47 46 70.1%
GASTON 70.9% 48 51 67.4%
SURRY 70.6% 49 50 67.8%
CHOWAN 69.0% 50 58 63.9%
RANDOLPH 69.0% 51 54 65.6%
PERQUIMANS 68.7% 52 41 76.5%
MONTGOMERY 67.7% 53 56 64.9%
WILSON 67.2% 54 65 62.0%
STANLY 67.0% 55 62 63.0%
GRAHAM 66.8% 56 45 70.3%
MADISON 66.1% 57 37 80.7%
RUTHERFORD 65.2% 58 63 63.0%
YADKIN 65.0% 59 60 63.2%
PITT 64.2% 60 52 67.2%
STOKES 63.9% 61 59 63.8%
TYRRELL 63.7% 62 49 68.2%
ALEXANDER 63.7% 63 61 63.1%
CUMBERLAND 62.1% 64 73 57.1%
FRANKLIN 62.1% 65 57 64.5%
CLEVELAND 61.1% 66 74 54.3%
BURKE 61.0% 67 71 58.2%
CALDWELL 60.9% 68 70 58.3%
ROCKINGHAM 60.1% 69 68 59.5%
SWAIN 60.1% 70 48 68.5%
MITCHELL 59.7% 71 53 65.7%
MCDOWELL 57.3% 72 67 60.7%
MARTIN 57.1% 73 81 49.7%
LENOIR 56.6% 74 79 50.7%
ONSLOW 56.0% 75 64 63.0%
GRANVILLE 55.7% 76 75 54.0%
WAYNE 54.7% 77 78 51.7%
BLADEN 54.7% 78 80 49.8%
VANCE 52.4% 79 88 42.9%
DUPLIN 51.7% 80 84 47.8%
PASQUOTANK 50.6% 81 77 52.1%
NORTHAMPTON 50.3% 82 82 49.6%
JONES 49.6% 83 69 58.8%
SAMPSON 49.5% 84 86 45.0%
WARREN 49.1% 85 83 48.5%
HARNETT 48.2% 86 85 45.6%
CASWELL 46.3% 87 76 52.2%
GATES 45.5% 88 90 40.7%
RICHMOND 45.1% 89 91 40.3%
COLUMBUS 44.1% 90 93 39.4%
SCOTLAND 43.8% 91 97 36.5%
HALIFAX 40.1% 92 94 38.8%
WASHINGTON 40.0% 93 92 39.9%
ANSON 40.0% 94 96 37.3%
EDGECOMBE 39.9% 95 87 44.1%
HERTFORD 39.5% 96 89 42.0%
GREENE 38.5% 97 95 38.7%
BERTIE 34.1% 98 98 31.5%
HOKE 31.0% 99 99 29.2%
ROBESON 24.8% 100 100 20.6%

Compiled by State Library of North Carolina staff
November 2007


Questions or comments should be directed to the Contact us form.

 

Department of Cultural Resources Privacy Policy

 

TGO Last updated November 9, 2007
URL:http://statelibrary.ncdcr.gov/lsta/financialfactors0809.htm