Raleigh, N.C. - The North Carolina Department of Commerce released the county tier designations for 2021. The designations, which are mandated by state law, play a role in several programs that assist in economic development.

The 2021 rankings comply with the methodology prescribed by the North Carolina General Assembly in General Statue §143B-437.08, which identifies four economic factors to be compiled and calculated by N.C. Commerce and then used to analyze and rank each of North Carolina’s 100 counties. Each county is then assigned its tier designation ranking from one to three. Tier 1 counties are generally the most economically distressed and Tier 3 counties are generally the least economically distressed.

The rankings are based on an assessment of each county’s unemployment rate, median household income, population growth, and assessed property value per capita. The law calls for 40 counties to be designated as Tier 1, 40 counties to be designated as Tier 2, and 20 counties to be designated Tier 3.

22 counties will change tier designations for 2021.

Counties moving to a less distressed tier ranking include Beaufort, Camden, Carteret, Chowan, Jones, Macon, Onslow, Perquimans, Pitt, Polk, and Transylvania.

Counties moving to a more distressed tier ranking include Alexander, Brunswick, Buncombe, Burke, Cherokee, Davie, Haywood, Hoke, New Hanover, Randolph, and Rowan.

Tier designations determine eligibility and guidelines for several different grant programs that N.C. Commerce administers including the One North Carolina Fund, building reuse, water and sewer infrastructure, and the downtown revitalization Main Street program. Tier designations also play a role in the state’s performance-based Job Development Investment Grant (JDIG) program, serving as a mechanism to channel funds for infrastructure improvements into more economically distressed areas of the state.

For more information about the tier designation system visit:

nccommerce.com/grants-incentives/county-distress-rankings-tiers.

Jones County

For 2021, Jones County is shifting from Tier One to Tier Two. The county’s economic distress rank is #46 (it was #32 in 2020). This shift was largely driven by a change in the county’s unemployment rate rank, which moved from #50 last year to #93 this year.