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45 Orange County Comprehensive Parks and Recreation Master Plan CHAPTER 5-Demographics and Driving Factors +� Secondly, as can be seen in table 5-E, while the pro- Conclusion jection methodology did a very good job of antici- Orange County, as home to the University of North paling the total county population, this was not al- Carolina and UNC Health Care with proximity to the ways the case at the township and municipality lev- Research Triangle Park and Duke University, el. For example, while the projection for Chapel Hill continues to see positive population growth as it has Township as a whole was close to the mark, the for the last century, and especially the last 50 years. breakdown between Chapel Hill, Carrboro and the While growth rates have slowed somewhat in recent unincorporated part of the township overprojected years with the "Great Recession" economic down- the latter and under-projected the town of Chapel turn of 2008-2010,the county continues to see pop- Hill. In Cheeks Township,annexation and more-rapid ulation increases both within its municipalities and growth by the City of Mebane and in the township in the rural parts of the county. Particularly note- occurred between 2000 and 2010. Other differences worthy is the current and projected future growth in of a like nature may be noted. Overall, however,the the Chapel Hill/Carrboro area, the Mebane to Hills- projection methodology did match closely to the borough (and Cheeks Township) corridor, and other actual growth of 2000-2010. Time will tell whether locations across the county — including west of this growth pattern will be the best 20-year approxi- Carrboro and the 1-40/1-85 "wedge" in eastern Or- mation of population increase. ange. Overall, an increase of another 40,000 persons Note —for the Town of Chapel Hill and the City of from 2010 to 2030 may be expected. Mebane, the above numbers represent only the por- tions of those municipalities within Orange County. The county is seeing changes in its demographics with an influx of persons of Asian descent and of Hispanic or Latino origin — especially in the urban areas of southeastern Orange. The county is among the most-educated counties in the nation, and has a high median household income — a figure which masks significant numbers of low-income house- ; f holds. The major employers in the county are UNC, UNC Health Care and private industry, much of the latter of which is located outside of the county boundaries. Note: Additional graphics, maps and end notes on Orange County demographics may be found in Ap- pendix 5.1 � yr 5-7