Author: Chi Wong
To support North Carolina’s continued prosperity, we must understand and capitalize on our economic strengths. One way to achieve this is to use gross domestic product (GDP) data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis. GDP measures the total value of all goods and services produced in the state. By analyzing which industries contribute most to GDP and which are growing, we can identify key sectors driving North Carolina’s economy.
Which Sectors Produce the Greatest Output?
We begin with a current picture of North Carolina’s GDP by industry sector, highlighting the top 10 private employment sectors in 2024 based on the latest data.
Source: Bureau of Economic Analysis, Table SAGDP2
Looking more closely at these sectors, the Nondurable Manufacturing subsector represents roughly 60% of Manufacturing GDP, with Food, Beverage, and Tobacco Manufacturing and Chemical Manufacturing (including Pharmaceuticals) as leading contributors. Professional Services’ GDP mostly comes from Miscellaneous Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services, which includes (but is not limited to) industries such as Accounting Services, Management and Technical Consulting Services, and Scientific Research and Development Services.
How Have Sectors Grown Over Time?
To fully understand what’s driving North Carolina’s growth, it’s important to examine how industry output has changed over time:
Source: Analysis of Real GDP data by LEAD from Bureau of Economic Analysis, Table SAGDP9
Figure 1 displays the percentage growth of the top 5 industry sectors by GDP share since 2004. Among them, Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services stands out, with output increasing by over 200% between 2004 and 2024. Other sectors with output growing faster than total private industries’ output are Real Estate and Rental and Leasing and Health Care and Social Assistance.
How Does North Carolina Compare To Other States’ and National Trends?
To put North Carolina’s growth in context, we can compare it to national trends - highlighting not only which sectors are driving our economy, but also how our growth measures up. Figure 2 shows private industry growth in North Carolina’s top five sectors. The state outperformed the nation in four of the five, all but Manufacturing:
Source: Analysis of Real GDP data by LEAD from Bureau of Economic Analysis, Table SAGDP9
To provide additional context, Figure 3 shows how NC’s GDP growth in key sectors compares with four other top states for business:
Source: Analysis of Real GDP data by LEAD from Bureau of Economic Analysis, Table SAGDP9
This data further emphasizes our state’s relative strength in Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services. From 2004 to 2024, this sector’s output grew by 223% with a difference of over 40 percentage points from Texas, the state with the next largest growth in this sector.
Conclusion
These trends show that North Carolina’s economy is successfully balancing its traditional strengths with emerging growth sectors. Manufacturing remains the largest private-sector driver by GDP share, with slower but steady growth. At the same time, the rapid expansion of Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services — along with steady gains in Finance, Real Estate, and Health Care — reflects how the state’s economic base has significantly diversified. Understanding which industries both are expanding and increasing their share of total output will help North Carolina’s leaders, employers, and communities target investment and planning efforts where they matter most.