Mecklenburg County · North Carolina
Charlotte, NC jobs and wages
Who works here, what they earn, and which industries carry the local economy — Census ACS estimates for the city itself, not the wider metro.
Quick answer
Workers in Charlotte, NC earn a median of $47,587 a year, 7% above the national median of $44,587. Unemployment is 4.4% against 5.2% nationally, and education, health care & social assistance is the largest employer at 17.7% of jobs.
- Median earnings
- $47,587#22 of 94 metros
- Unemployment rate
- 4.4%US 5.2%
- Labor force participation
- 72.4%US 63.5%
- People employed
- 487,094Civilian employed, age 16+
What Charlotte does for a living
Share of the civilian employed population by industry, largest first.
- Education, health care & social assistance17.7%
- Professional, scientific & management16%
- Finance, insurance & real estate14%
- Retail trade9.9%
- Arts, entertainment, recreation, accommodation & food8.2%
- Manufacturing7.7%
- Construction7.6%
- Transportation, warehousing & utilities7.2%
- Other services, except public administration4.8%
- Wholesale trade2.4%
- Information2.2%
- Public administration2%
- Agriculture, forestry, fishing, hunting & mining0.2%
Related data for Charlotte
Earnings only mean something next to what things cost.
Source: US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates
Tables B23025, B20002 and C24030, 2019-2023 ACS 5-year. Industry shares combine the male and female columns of C24030 and are rounded, so they may not total exactly 100%.