SUMMARY ABILITY TO PAY INFORMATION  

2009-2010 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.

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.

 

County Percent of State Average Revenue Per Pop
Rank per Pop
Rank per ADM
 Percent of State Average Revenue Per ADM
DARE 560.6%
1
1
 627.7%
CURRITUCK 342.1%
2
2
 313.6%
WATAUGA 170.9%
3
3
 255.1%
CARTERET 170.3%
4
7
 198.9%
MACON 169.2%
5
5
 209.9%
MECKLENBURG 167.9%
6
10
 174.1%
BRUNSWICK 160.8%
7
6
 204.3%
AVERY 160.1%
8
8
 189.4%
JACKSON 158.2%
9
4
 237.5%
CHATHAM 145.3%
10
14
 165.2%
NEW HANOVER 144.6%
11
11
 172.9%
POLK 144.2%
12
9
 176.1%
ORANGE 140.8%
13
15
 152.6%
WAKE 139.6%
14
17
 138.3%
TRANSYLVANIA 138.6%
15
13
 166.9%
MOORE 130.4%
16
18
 136.9%
HYDE 121.9%
17
12
 168.1%
CLAY 119.4%
18
16
 144.6%
ALLEGHANY 116.9%
19
20
 132.9%
IREDELL 115.5%
20
27
 102.9%
FORSYTH 112.9%
21
24
 115.3%
GUILFORD 112.6%
22
25
 114.1%
HENDERSON 109.8%
23
19
 135.5%
BUNCOMBE 109.1%
24
21
 127.2%
CABARRUS 108.6%
25
29
 92.8%
DURHAM 106.8%
26
23
 126.2%
DAVIE 102.4%
27
28
 100.8%
ASHE 101.0%
28
22
 126.3%
UNION 96.6%
29
37
 81.5%
HAYWOOD 96.0%
30
26
 109.5%
GRAHAM 87.5%
31
31
 91.6%
LINCOLN 84.7%
32
44
 76.0%
CATAWBA 84.4%
33
36
 81.9%
PAMLICO 83.5%
34
32
 89.1%
PERSON 82.8%
35
40
 79.7%
WILKES 82.7%
36
33
 85.7%
PENDER 81.7%
37
34
 85.0%
CHEROKEE 81.1%
38
30
 92.2%
CAMDEN 77.8%
39
60
 62.7%
CRAVEN 76.6%
40
41
 79.0%
LEE 76.2%
41
47
 71.8%
ALAMANCE 75.8%
42
45
 73.2%
YANCEY 73.9%
43
35
 84.5%
JOHNSTON 73.7%
44
57
 63.9%
DAVIDSON 72.2%
45
51
 68.9%
TYRRELL 71.9%
46
43
 77.7%
BEAUFORT 71.9%
47
50
 70.9%
SWAIN 71.5%
48
39
 81.0%
PERQUIMANS 71.4%
49
42
 78.8%
CHOWAN 71.4%
50
53
 67.2%
ROWAN 70.7%
51
46
 72.0%
MONTGOMERY 70.4%
52
52
 67.8%
SURRY 68.9%
53
54
 66.2%
NASH 67.3%
54
77
 52.0%
GASTON 67.2%
55
58
 63.9%
RANDOLPH 65.9%
56
59
 62.7%
STOKES 65.9%
57
56
 65.6%
CUMBERLAND 65.8%
58
64
 60.9%
MADISON 65.7%
59
38
 81.1%
WILSON 65.5%
60
65
 60.9%
MITCHELL 64.6%
61
48
 71.5%
STANLY 64.3%
62
66
 60.7%
RUTHERFORD 64.2%
63
63
 61.8%
ONSLOW 63.3%
64
49
 70.9%
PITT 62.6%
65
55
 65.6%
ALEXANDER 62.4%
66
61
 62.6%
YADKIN 60.2%
67
70
 58.1%
BURKE 60.1%
68
69
 58.3%
CALDWELL 59.7%
69
71
 57.5%
CLEVELAND 59.3%
70
74
 53.3%
FRANKLIN 59.0%
71
62
 62.5%
ROCKINGHAM 57.4%
72
72
 57.3%
MCDOWELL 55.7%
73
68
 59.6%
BLADEN 55.0%
74
78
 51.9%
MARTIN 54.2%
75
81
 48.7%
GRANVILLE 53.6%
76
76
 52.3%
WAYNE 53.1%
77
80
 50.1%
LENOIR 52.7%
78
83
 47.1%
WARREN 52.6%
79
73
 54.3%
VANCE 50.2%
80
89
 41.5%
PASQUOTANK 49.7%
81
79
 51.7%
DUPLIN 49.2%
82
84
 45.7%
JONES 49.0%
83
67
 60.2%
HARNETT 48.2%
84
85
 45.3%
NORTHAMPTON 47.7%
85
82
 47.2%
SAMPSON 47.5%
86
86
 42.9%
GATES 46.9%
87
87
 42.6%
CASWELL 46.1%
88
75
 52.4%
COLUMBUS 44.7%
89
93
 40.3%
HALIFAX 42.7%
90
88
 41.8%
ANSON 42.1%
91
94
 40.2%
RICHMOND 42.0%
92
96
 37.7%
SCOTLAND 41.1%
93
97
 34.3%
GREENE 40.4%
94
90
 41.3%
WASHINGTON 40.3%
95
95
 39.5%
HERTFORD 37.7%
96
91
 40.7%
EDGECOMBE 36.7%
97
92
 40.6%
BERTIE 34.0%
98
98
 32.1%
HOKE 30.4%
99
99
 28.9%
ROBESON 27.9%
100
100
 23.5%


Compiled by State Library of North Carolina staff
September 2008

 


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TGO Last updated September 12, 2009
URL:http://statelibrary.ncdcr.gov/lsta/financialfactors0910.htm