Concord, which was the only North Carolina city on the list, came in at No. 10. The city had a 2022 population of 109,898, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s 1-Year American Community Survey, which was a 17% increase from 2017. The population is 53% female, which is slightly higher than the North Carolina rate of 51%.

So you find yourself elated at 6:45 on a Saturday morning when you place the order for the last half rack. Donna, the oldest sister, takes your order in the kitchen/restaurant. The pandemic and roof trouble have made this a takeout-only operation. Donna’s sister Tammy, who’s been working at B’s since she was twelve, is already busy setting up. Judy, the third sister, arrives a few minutes later, and all three start their Olympian barbecue dance in the tiny building, seemingly held together by a half century of charred carbon and fierce customer devotion. 

Carteret County, home to popular travel destinations such as Morehead City, Beaufort, Atlantic Beach and Emerald Isle has been ranked as North Carolina’s No.1 place to retire in the entire state and No.10 for retirement nationwide due to its affordability, attractions and other amenities.

"Charlotte's growth was attributed to being a major banking center, the addition of tens of thousands of jobs and hundreds of millions in manufacturing investments."

"Of the state’s 551 municipalities, 337 or 61% had population gains since 2020."

"The overall hub is predicted to bring in more than $1 billion in investment and more than 600 jobs by 2027."

“It really is a great thing for the county and the reason for that is you hear on the news about companies coming to a community and it’s always concerns about the number of jobs, the quality of the jobs, the investment, and so what we have here is the nation’s largest family-owned RV dealership coming to Rowan County,” Shelton said.

In order to determine which states are pulling the most weight even during this time of economic difficulty caused by inflation, WalletHub compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia across 28 key indicators of economic performance and strength. Our data set ranges from GDP growth to startup activity to the share of jobs in high-tech industries.

"As for gross domestic product, North Carolina’s economy has since the beginning of 2020 posted a compound annual growth rate of 2.8 percent, adjusted for inflation. That’s significantly higher than the national (1.6 percent) and regional (2.1 percent) averages."

"While North Carolina is the number one state to do business in and has an extremely strong economy (NC's GDP is $655 billion as of 2021), they are 26th when it comes to the Cost of Doing Business."

"Toyota USA will invest billions of dollars into a new automotive battery plant in North Carolina -- a project that amounts to the largest capital investment in state history."