Orange County NC Website
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8 <br />EXECUTIVE SUMMARY <br />Orange County is well known for its rich history, outstanding educational and employment <br />opportunities, and diverse and friendly citizens. Nestled in the hills of the North Carolina <br />Piedmont, Orange County is located strategically between the Research Triangle Park and the <br />Triad cities of Greensboro, Winston-Salem and High Point. With more than 100,000 citizens, <br />Orange County includes historic Hillsborough, the County seat, Chapel Hill, home of the <br />University of North Carolina, and Carrboro, a former railroad and mill town. When Orange <br />County was founded in 1752, five Native American tribes lived in this area. The Town of <br />Hillsborough was the center of North Carolina politics in the colonial era and hosted the state's <br />Constitutional Convention in 1778, where North Carolina delegates demanded that a Bill of <br />Rights be added before they would ratify the U.S. Constitution. <br />Orange County lies on the western edge of the Research Triangle area, which is anchored on <br />three sides by UNC-Chapel Hill, North Carolina State University and Duke University. Research <br />Triangle Park is home to leading technological companies and institutions. Orange County is <br />part of the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill, North Carolina Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) <br />which comprises six Counties in the Research Triangle Area. <br />Housing _Market Analysis <br />General Market Conditions <br />Orange County's population has increased by more than 25% between 1990 and 2000 (rising <br />from 93,662 to 118,227). The County is expected to experience continued growth through 2010, <br />with the population increasing to a projected 140,750. The North Carolina Office of State <br />Planning estimates that the population in the County in 2003 is 120,881. While most of the <br />County's population is centered in Chapel Hill (46,798 in 2000), the areas experiencing the most <br />rapid growth are Carrboro and Hillsborough. It is estimated that almost one-third (32%) of <br />Chapel Hill's population are students enrolled at the University of North Carolina. Over 40% of <br />the County's population lives in Chapel Hill. Less than 20% of the population lives in other <br />municipalities with the remaining 39.4% living in the remainder of Orange County. The number <br />of households in Orange County, according #o the 2000 Census, was 45,863, which represents <br />a 27% increase in households since 1990. <br />The racial composition of Orange County is changing. As a percentage of the total population, <br />whites make up 78 % of the County and the Town of Chapel Hill. Blacks comprise 13.8 % of <br />Orange County (11 % of Chapel Hill). The most dramatic increase in racial groups is in the <br />Hispanic community, where the population grew from 1,279 in 1990 to 5,273 by 2000, <br />representing a 312.3% increase and 4.5% of the total population in Orange County. The Asian <br />population grew 105.2% during this same period and now makes up 4.1 % of the total <br />population. <br />The unemployment rates for Orange County have been 2% or more below the statewide <br />unemployment rates and about 3% to 4% below the national unemployment rates for the past <br />10 years. In Orange County, unemployment has ranged from a low of only 1.1 % in 1999 to a <br />high of 3.2% in 2002. <br />Ill <br />