Orange County, North Carolina

thumb|2020 population density of Orange County NC by census block

Racial and ethnic composition

{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center;"

|+Orange County, North Carolina – Racial and ethnic composition

!Race / Ethnicity (NH = Non-Hispanic)

!Pop 1980

!Pop 1990

!Pop 2000

!Pop 2010

!style="background-color: #ffffb3;" | Pop 2020

!% 1980

!% 1990

!% 2000

!% 2010

!style="background-color: #ffffb3;" |% 2020

|White alone (NH)

|62,068

|75,055

|89,656

|94,671

|style='background: #ffffe6; |96,537

|80.55%

|79.97%

|75.83%

|70.76%

|style='background: #ffffe6; |64.92%

|Black or African American alone (NH)

|13,194

|14,847

|16,175

|15,722

|style='background: #ffffe6; |15,571

|17.12%

|15.82%

|13.68%

|11.75%

|style='background: #ffffe6; |10.47%

|Native American or Alaska Native alone (NH)

|163

|273

|388

|383

|style='background: #ffffe6; |334

|0.21%

|0.29%

|0.33%

|0.29%

|style='background: #ffffe6; |0.22%

|Asian alone (NH)

|735

|2,352

|4,840

|8,996

|style='background: #ffffe6; |12,615

|0.95%

|2.51%

|4.09%

|6.72%

|style='background: #ffffe6; |8.48%

|Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander alone (NH)

|20

|35

|style='background: #ffffe6; |43

|0.02%

|0.03%

|style='background: #ffffe6; |0.03%

|Other race alone (NH)

|212

|45

|169

|316

|style='background: #ffffe6; |798

|0.28%

|0.05%

|0.14%

|0.24%

|style='background: #ffffe6; |0.54%

|Mixed race or Multiracial (NH)

|1,706

|2,661

|style='background: #ffffe6; |6,986

|1.44%

|1.99%

|style='background: #ffffe6; |4.70%

|Hispanic or Latino (any race)

|683

|1,279

|5,273

|11,017

|style='background: #ffffe6; |15,812

|0.89%

|1.36%

|4.46%

|8.23%

|style='background: #ffffe6; |10.63%

|Total

|77,055

|93,851

|118,227

|133,801

|style='background: #ffffe6; |148,696

|100.00%

|style='background: #ffffe6; |100.00%

2020 census

As of the 2020 census, the county had a population of 148,696. The 2020 census also counted 32,657 families residing in the county.

The racial makeup of the county was 66.6% White, 10.7% Black or African American, 0.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 8.5% Asian, <0.1% Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander, 5.4% from some other race, and 8.1% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino residents of any race comprised 10.6% of the population.

71.0% of residents lived in urban areas, while 29.0% lived in rural areas.

There were 57,059 households in the county, of which 28.6% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 45.9% were married-couple households, 18.7% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 29.2% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 28.9% of all households were made up of individuals and 9.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. there were 118,227 people, 45,863 households, and 26,141 families living in the county. The population density was . There were 49,289 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 78.05% White, 13.79% Black or African American, 0.39% Native American, 4.10% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 1.96% from other races, and 1.71% from two or more races. 4.46% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

There were 45,863 households, out of which 28.30% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 44.60% were married couples living together, 9.40% had a female householder with no husband present, and 43.00% were non-families. 28.10% of all households were made up of individuals, and 6.10% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.36 and the average family size was 2.95.

In the county, the age distribution was as follows: 20.30% under the age of 18, 21.00% from 18 to 24, 29.90% from 25 to 44, 20.40% from 45 to 64, and 8.40% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 30 years. For every 100 females there were 90.10 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 86.70 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $42,372, and the median income for a family was $59,874. Males had a median income of $39,298 versus $31,328 for females. The per capita income for the county was $24,873. About 6.20% of families and 14.10% of the population were below the poverty line, including 9.00% of those under age 18 and 7.40% of those age 65 or over. FY 2008-09 Orange County had the second highest property tax rate in NC at 0.998 per $100 of valuation. For FY 2009-10 after the 2009 Orange County revaluation, the rate is now ninth highest in the state at 0.858 per $100 of valuation.

Law and government

Orange County is governed by a seven-member board of commissioners. The commissioners are elected to four-year terms by district and at-large in partisan elections, which are held in November of even-numbered years. Orange County is a member of the regional Triangle J Council of Governments.

Politics

Orange County has gained a reputation as one of the most liberal counties in North Carolina. The county consistently delivers one of the largest Democratic majorities in the state in presidential, state, and local elections. This trend predates the recent swing toward the Democrats in counties dominated by college towns. The last Republican to win the county at a presidential level was Herbert Hoover in 1928 – when opposition to the Catholicism of Democratic nominee Al Smith was a powerful force among voters. It has only supported a Republican two other times since the Civil War–William Howard Taft in 1908 and William McKinley in 1900.

Democratic strength is concentrated in Hillsborough, Chapel Hill and Carrboro, while the rural areas of the county favor Republicans.

Chapel Hill and Carrboro have a reputation for being two of the most liberal communities in the Southern United States. Carrboro was the first municipality in North Carolina to elect an openly gay mayor, Mike Nelson (who also served as an Orange County commissioner from 2006 to 2010), and the first municipality in the state to grant domestic-partner benefits to same-sex couples. In October 2002, Carrboro was among the first municipalities in the South to pass resolutions opposing the Iraq War and the USA PATRIOT Act. Orange County voted 78.98% against Amendment 1. This was the highest vote against a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage of any county in the United States, even higher than San Francisco in 2008.

Education

It is home to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the flagship institution of the University of North Carolina System and the oldest state-supported university in the United States.

The county is served by 2 public school districts:

K.A. Applegate, author
Thomas Samuel Ashe, United States Congressman from North Carolina
Laura Ballance, musician and Merge Records co-founder
Lewis Black, comedian
David Brinkley, newscaster
Fred Brooks, computer science pioneer
Larry Brown, basketball coach
Cam Cameron, football coach
William Carter Love, U.S. Representative from North Carolina
Spencer Chamberlain, musician
Elizabeth Cotten, blues singer who grew up in Carrboro
Floyd Council, blues singer, the "Floyd" in Pink Floyd
Butch Davis, football coach
Sarah Dessen, author
Elizabeth Edwards, an attorney and activist for liberal causes, Chapel Hill
John Edwards, former North Carolina Senator, 2008 Presidential candidate, Chapel Hill
Sam Ervin, former North Carolina senator, chairman of the Senate Watergate Committee
Lawrence Ferlinghetti, beat poet, co-founder of City Lights Booksellers
Ben Folds, musician
Paul Green, playwright
Andy Griffith, actor
Mia Hamm, soccer player
Harpe Brothers, Micajah and Wiley, America's first serial killers
Bunny Hearn, major league baseball pitcher
Jack Hogan, actor, noted for his role as Private William Kirby on Combat! television series, 1962–1967
Laurel Holloman, actress
Herman Husband, a leader of the North Carolina Regulator Movement
Marion Jones, former track and field athlete
Michael Jordan, basketball player
Elizabeth Keckley, former slave and servant of Mary Todd Lincoln
Charles Kuralt, longtime journalist with CBS
Jim Lampley, sportscaster
Howard Lee, pioneering politician
Doug Marlette, cartoonist and writer
Mac McCaughan, musician and Merge Records co-founder
Alexander Mebane Jr. (1744–1795), Revolutionary War militia general and U. S. Congressman
Benjamin Merrill, leader in the Regulator movement and at the Battle of Alamance
Elisha Mitchell, geologist
Archibald Murphey, North Carolina politician
Beverly Perdue, 73rd Governor of North Carolina
Nick Perumov, author
Mary Pope Osborne, author
Frank Porter Graham, United States senator and president of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
David Price, U.S. congressman
Connie Ray, actress and playwright
David Rees, satirist
Dexter Romweber, rockabilly roots-rocker
Terry Sanford, United States senator and governor of North Carolina
Stuart Scott, sportscaster
Betty Smith, author
Dean Smith, former basketball coach
Lee Smith, author, lives in Hillsborough
Oliver Smithies, 2007 recipient of the Nobel Prize
Silda Wall Spitzer, wife of former New York governor Eliot Spitzer
Chris Stamey, musician
James Taylor, popular musician
Lawrence Taylor, football player
Manly Wade Wellman, novelist
Daniel Wallace, author, lives in Carrboro
Kent Williams, painter, illustrator and comics artist
Roy Williams, basketball coach
Thomas Wolfe, novelist
James Worthy, basketball player

References

External links

Orange County historic information cache
NCGenWeb Orange County, genealogy resources for the county