Accredited Online Colleges in North Carolina (NC)

With a rich history dating back to being one of the nations’ original 13 colonies, North Carolina features an incredible array of colleges and universities but has been affected by the recent downturn in economy slightly more than the rest of the nation. With unemployment at 10.70 percent, slightly higher than the national average of 10.20 percent, North Carolina has seen a negative job growth rate from March 2010 through March 2011. With more than 9.3 million residents in the state, the majority are concentrated towards the south-central area of the state, primarily the greater Charlotte area. One major upside of calling North Carolina home is that the cost of living is 7.5% lower than the rest of the country according to www.bestplaces.net.

With two-thirds of the state’s population living in the central-third of the state, most of the more densely populated metropolitan areas are in a very close radius to one another. The state’s largest city, Charlotte contains more than 700,000 residents. With a steep drop in population to the state’s second largest city, Raleigh, containing more than 400,000 residents, Greensboro, Winston-Salem and Durham round out the rest of the top five largest cities with populations around the quarter-million mark. The state has shown a distinct shift from what was once a primarily agriculturally based economy to rapid growth of the state’s metropolitan areas.

As the nation’s leading tobacco producer, the industry remains vital to the state’s economy. In addition, the state remains of the nations’ leading textile producers despite a recent downturn. The production and transportation of goods like these account for 17.9 percent of the states jobs. Much like the rest of the nation, sales and office jobs are the states’ largest occupations. The Charlotte area has seen rapid job growth compared to the rest of the state in part to its high concentration of banking and financial occupations. The city is the countries’ second largest banking center and is home to Bank of America and six other Fortune 500 companies. Charlotte is also a major hub for auto racing with more than 80 percent of NASCAR’s race teams calling the city home.

North Carolina also features a particularly high number of top tier colleges and universities. Home to college basketball powers University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Duke and Wake Forest, the state has a high concentration of schools in and around the Raleigh-Durham area, including the previously mentioned schools and North Carolina State University. The public University of North Carolina system contains 17 universities, including the nations’ first university UNC-Chapel Hill. While each school offers a wide array of degree programs, much like the rest of the rest of the state education has also seen a shift towards an emphasis in business and financial programs.