North Carolina's wages outpaced national inflation in 2025, with the average weekly wage rising faster than consumer prices. Employment also grew faster than the national rate, with most sectors adding jobs over the year.
This post, the first in a two-part series on North Carolina's 2025 Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW) data, draws on the newly released federal-state QCEW program, a partnership between the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and state labor market information entities. In North Carolina, LEAD collects, compiles, validates, and submits employer-reported data to BLS, which processes and publishes the official QCEW statistics. The QCEW provides one of the most comprehensive measures of employment and wages, with data available by industry and geography. The figures here compare 2025 annual averages to 2024, capturing year-over-year change across industry sectors.[1][2]
Employment Grew Faster Than the National Rate
Employment in North Carolina grew 0.8% from 2024 to 2025, outpacing the national rate of 0.4%. In absolute terms, the state added roughly 39,500 jobs. Health Care & Social Assistance led all sectors with 3.9% growth, followed by Utilities (2.9%) and Construction (2.5%). Several sectors posted job losses, with Agriculture, Forestry & Fishing declining the most (-4.8%), followed by Manufacturing (-0.8%), Educational Services (-0.2%), and Administrative & Support Services (-0.1%).
Workers’ Wages on Average Outpaced National Inflation
Average weekly wages, which measure total wages divided by the number of jobs, rose 4.1% statewide over the year. Every sector saw wages rise in dollar terms, but prices rose as well. Measured against the 2.6% increase in the national Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U),[3] statewide wages grew 1.4% after inflation,[4] roughly in line with the national gain of 1.5%. Sixteen of the 19 sectors shown outpaced the national inflation rate. Information led with a real gain of 4.7%, while Educational Services (-0.1%), Health Care & Social Assistance (-0.7%), and Management of Companies (-0.9%) did not keep pace with rising prices.
Shelter and Medical Care Outpaced Overall Price Growth
The 2.6% overall rise in the national CPI-U can mask variation across spending categories. Nationally, Shelter and Medical Care both climbed above the headline rate, at 3.6% and 2.9% respectively, while Gasoline fell 5.7%. Households that spent a larger share of their budget on housing or healthcare therefore faced more price pressure than the headline figure suggests. However, it is worth noting that inflation has changed since 2025. Overall inflation has accelerated, with the CPI-U up 4.2% over the 12 months ending May 2026, driven in part by a sharp rise in gasoline prices This marks a reversal from the relief seen in 2025.
Overall, the 2025 QCEW data show that North Carolina continued to add jobs while average weekly wages generally outpaced inflation across most industries.
Explore the Data
The full QCEW data for North Carolina, including county-level employment and wages, is available through the Labor & Economic Analysis Division’s (LEAD) D4 data tool at d4.nccommerce.com. For more labor market data and analysis, visit LEAD Analytics at analytics.nccommerce.com.
1 Some year-to-year changes in QCEW data can reflect technical factors, such as reclassification of an establishment's industry or location, changes to the industrial classification system, or changes in the unemployment insurance program, rather than actual changes in the economy.
2 This analysis excludes Mining & Oil/Gas Extraction due to insufficient employment levels in North Carolina.
3 Wages are adjusted using the national CPI-U. The resulting figures reflect national price changes and are not adjusted for cost-of-living differences within North Carolina.
4 Real (inflation-adjusted) wage growth is calculated using unrounded figures as:
