Poverty Research Project
Project Overview
The Poverty Research Project explores the challenges of economic hardship in North Carolina. The research is non-partisan and interdisciplinary to study, document, and advocate for proposals, policies and services to mitigate poverty in North Carolina. The goals of the Poverty Research Project include
- To address the pressing needs of those currently living at or below the poverty level in North Carolina
- To raise public awareness of issues related to work and poverty
- To make visible the role poverty plays in segments of our society historically impacted by legally recognized forms of discrimination.
Concentrated Poverty in North Carolina
North Carolina’s statewide poverty rate—12.5% in 2024—is just shy of its historic low in 1999. Yet today far more Tar Heel residents live in economically segregated, high-poverty neighborhoods than 25 years ago. More than two million North Carolinians, or one in five, live in a neighborhood where at least 20% of their neighbors are poor. Four in ten poor North Carolinians live in one of these communities, where neighborhood disadvantage compounds personal struggles.
Not all North Carolinians are equally exposed to high-poverty neighborhoods. As a result of systemic exclusion and disinvestment, Black and Hispanic residents are twice as likely as their non-Hispanic White neighbors to live in a high-poverty community. At the same time, the composition of these neighborhoods has shifted substantially, reflecting North Carolina’s changing demographics and suggesting that concentrated poverty is reaching farther than it once did.
High-poverty neighborhoods are already a defining feature of North Carolina’s landscape. Unless the challenge is met by sustained and determined commitment, they will almost certainly grow larger when the next economic downturn comes.
Driver's License Report
More than 2.8 million driver’s license suspensions are active in North Carolina, burdening hundreds of thousands of mostly low-income residents. These suspensions are not for dangerous driving, but for unpaid court costs or missed court dates. Most people don’t willfully violate court orders — often poverty makes compliance impossible — and the suspensions that follow can last years.
One suspension often triggers a cascade of new charges, mounting legal debt and deeper legal entanglement. Because driving is so vital to everyday life, a suspension is a debilitating event with harmful repercussions for individuals, families and the state.
This two-part series examines the scope and consequences of suspension. The first report analyzes trends over time and across counties. The second highlights the human and economic toll of suspension through the voices of affected individuals, advocates, and attorneys.
Driver's License Suspension Report
Population Change and Immigration
This report examines the profound demographic shifts that have transformed North Carolina over the past two decades. While metro areas have grown rapidly, many rural communities face population decline and uncertainty about their future. At the same time, the state has also seen sharp increases in residents who identify as Hispanic, Asian or multiracial.
These fast-growing groups have strengthened North Carolina, especially its rural areas.
Population Change, Immigration and the Future of Rural North Carolina
Shredding the Safety Net: North Carolina and the Assault on Poverty Programs
This series examines how cuts to federal safety net programs will deepen poverty and economic hardship in North Carolina.
Population Change, Immigration and the Future of Rural North Carolina
An Overview of Poverty in North Carolina 2025
Food Security and SNAP in North Carolina 2025
Medicaid in North Carolina 2025
Medicaid Funding Cuts Threaten the Financial and Physical Health of North Carolinians 2025
Student Papers on Issues of Poverty and Courts
NCCU students are an important part of our work! The first three papers were written by law students in Professor Scott Holmes‘ Summer 2025 Legal Problems of the Poor class. “Beyond the Fines and Fees,” a report on driver’s license suspension by Sydney Thorne, was research she conducted as a research assistant.
Black Maternal Health by Jean-Baptiste
From Lectures to Litigation by Montilla