James City is an unincorporated area and census-designated place (CDP) in Craven County, North Carolina, United States. As of the 2020 census, James City had a population of 5,291. It is part of the New Bern, North Carolina Metropolitan Statistical Area.
History
James City was developed during the American Civil War when Union forces, occupying nearby New Bern, constructed a resettlement camp for freed slaves on land belonging to Confederate Army Colonel Peter G. Evans. Originally referred to as the Trent River Settlement, by 1865 it had been renamed James City, after its founder, Union Army chaplain Horace James, superintendent of Negro affairs and agent for the Bureau of Freedmen, Refugees, and Abandoned Lands.
Geography
thumb|Aerial photo of New Bern (center left) and James City (center to lower right). East is up.
James City is located in central Craven County along the west bank of the tidal Neuse River. It is bordered to the north by the city of New Bern, the county seat, across the Trent River, a tributary of the Neuse. To the west are the unincorporated community of Brices Creek, and a more recently annexed portion of New Bern. Coastal Carolina Regional Airport is in the northwestern part of the CDP.
According to the United States Census Bureau, James City has a total area of , of which is land and , or 45.34%, is water.
Demographics
2020 census
As of the 2020 census, James City had a population of 5,291. There were 2,170 households, including 1,475 families. The median age was 45.6 years. 19.1% of residents were under the age of 18 and 23.9% of residents were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 94.8 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 90.6 males age 18 and over.
97.6% of residents lived in urban areas, while 2.4% lived in rural areas.
Of households in James City, 27.1% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 48.3% were married-couple households, 18.5% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 27.3% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 29.1% of all households were made up of individuals and 15.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.
!scope="col"| Race
!scope="col"| Number
!scope="col"| Percentage
|-
!scope="row"| White (non-Hispanic)
| 3,919
| 74.07%
|-
!scope="row"| Black or African American (non-Hispanic)
| 713
| 13.48%
|-
!scope="row"| Native American
| 8
| 0.15%
|-
!scope="row"| Asian
| 47
| 0.89%
|-
!scope="row"| Pacific Islander
| 5
| 0.09%
|-
!scope="row"| Other/Mixed
| 250
| 4.73%
|-
!scope="row"| Hispanic or Latino
| 349
| 6.6%
|}
2000 census
As of the census