Category: NC Economic Development
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North Carolina Population Growth and Household Income: What the State’s Innovation Report Shows
North Carolina’s population grew 39.2% from 2000 to 2025, the 8th fastest rate in the country, and most of that growth is in a small number of metro counties. Median household income is 91% of the U.S. average and rising faster than it. We look at what the state’s 2026 innovation report shows, and where…
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1,885 Announced Jobs in Wilson County, and 411 Housing Permits
Johnson & Johnson will build a second manufacturing facility in Wilson County, adding up to 500 jobs to the 420 it committed in October 2024. That makes five large manufacturing announcements in the county since March 2024, 1,885 jobs between them. Wilson authorized 411 new private housing units by building permit last year, down from…
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Capital Group’s 600 Uptown Charlotte Jobs and the Workforce Housing Demand That Follows
Capital Group leased 196,940 square feet at One Independence Center in Uptown Charlotte, the largest office lease signed in the metro in the second quarter of 2026, for an East Coast hub of 600 jobs averaging $194,141. Twelve days later SMBC Group announced 2,000 more Charlotte jobs. The workforce housing and daily-needs retail demand that…
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John Deere Adds a $70M Excavator Plant in Kernersville
John Deere is building a $70 million excavator factory in Kernersville and hiring more than 150 people to run it. The 380,000-square-foot plant expands a Forsyth County campus that has built excavators since 1988 and already employs roughly 600. The facility opens in 2027, and the jobs land inside a Triad commuter shed that reaches…
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What $421M and 500 Siemens Energy Jobs Mean for NC Housing Demand
Siemens Energy committed $421 million and 500 jobs to North Carolina in February 2026, split across Charlotte, Rural Hall, and Raleigh. The company has since reaffirmed the buildout, and is expanding manufacturing capacity through the end of the decade. The jobs land in three unlike places, which means three separate sets of towns absorb the…
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How a Steel Plant Reshapes Hertford County’s Housing Demand
A corner of the state that rarely draws big private capital just landed a second major steel employer. US Forged Rings will build a specialty steel plant in Cofield, in rural Hertford County, pledging up to $875 million and 625 jobs, according to the North Carolina Governor’s office. Those jobs are the input. Workforce housing…
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Jobs Bring People, People Need Housing: Reading SMBC’s Charlotte Move
SMBC Group is establishing its second U.S. headquarters in Charlotte, adding 2,000 jobs over six years at an average salary near $165,000. For real estate investors, the more useful read is what 2,000 new high-wage households mean for housing and neighborhood retail across the metro. We trace the announcement, why Charlotte won it, and where…
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AbbVie Picks Durham: Why RTP Keeps Winning Pharma’s Biggest Bets
AbbVie chose Durham for the largest capital investment in its history: a $1.4 billion, 185-acre manufacturing campus creating 734 jobs at an average salary of $118,041. The company cited the region’s workforce and room to expand, the same conditions that keep drawing pharma to the Triangle. Here’s what the announcement covers, why Durham keeps winning…
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$2 Billion, 2,000 Jobs: What Genentech’s Holly Springs Expansion Means for Triangle Real Estate
Genentech raised its Holly Springs manufacturing commitment from $700 million to approximately $2 billion eight months after the original announcement, with construction already underway. The facility, Genentech’s first East Coast plant, will support 500+ high-wage manufacturing jobs at an average salary of $119,833 and 1,500 construction positions. Here is what a $2 billion biomanufacturing anchor…
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What It Means for Real Estate When NC Builds the Glass That Powers AI
The AI buildout runs on glass fiber, and North Carolina makes most of America’s supply. In May, NVIDIA committed up to $3.2 billion to expand Corning’s U.S. manufacturing, part of a wave of advanced-manufacturing investment landing in Catawba County’s fiber corridor. The data centers grab the headlines, but the durable real-estate story is the workforce…