Table 2: 1997 Economic Census: Ranking by Retail Sales
North Carolina

EMPTEXT
Retail_Trade_____ Number of establish- ments Retail sales Number of employees Payroll ($1,000) Popu- lation Retail sales per capita ($)
($1,000) rank
 
United States (preliminary) 1,120,249 2,456,574,247   14,115,559 238,792,423 267,636,061 9,179
 
North Carolina 35,563 72,356,763   416,287 6,697,393 7,430,675 9,738
 
Mecklenburg County 2,971 8,517,207 1 44,557 815,736 614,920 13,851
Wake County 2,719 7,391,943 2 38,755 664,316 551,537 13,402
Guilford County 2,059 5,179,260 3 29,817 530,847 382,509 13,540
Forsyth County 1,489 3,731,168 4 20,888 344,864 285,994 13,046
Cumberland County 1,061 2,563,291 5 14,929 239,274 283,975 9,026
New Hanover County 1,026 2,461,051 6 12,352 210,910 147,073 16,734
Buncombe County 1,136 2,193,417 7 13,179 210,413 192,969 11,367
Durham County 1,010 2,032,600 8 13,322 213,230 199,812 10,173
Catawba County 779 1,719,804 9 10,011 161,074 130,307 13,198
Gaston County 767 1,587,881 10 9,662 146,492 183,374 8,659
Pitt County 643 1,384,806 11 7,956 124,755 124,096 11,159
Alamance County 643 1,245,124 12 7,630 117,753 117,991 10,553
Cabarrus County 468 1,131,835 13 6,467 103,586 116,171 9,743
Onslow County 564 1,090,068 14 6,542 96,670 143,263 7,609
Iredell County 510 1,065,762 15 5,993 93,165 109,034 9,775
Nash County 524 1,035,544 16 5,885 92,999 89,652 11,551
Wayne County 523 1,033,033 17 6,169 88,081 112,022 9,222
Robeson County 450 1,011,717 18 4,844 79,793 114,318 8,850
Henderson County 386 901,304 19 4,192 75,177 79,410 11,350
Davidson County 494 891,966 20 5,131 88,736 139,220 6,407
Johnston County 486 857,857 21 4,580 71,538 102,108 8,401
Randolph County 457 844,986 22 4,821 77,071 119,446 7,074
Orange County 387 837,230 23 5,549 95,024 108,585 7,710
Rowan County 450 799,190 24 4,820 74,319 123,593 6,466
Surry County 381 780,006 25 5,594 75,576 66,346 11,757
Craven County 443 772,606 26 4,560 71,277 87,752 8,804
Union County 383 753,019 27 4,245 69,213 105,976 7,106
Wilson County 393 735,371 28 4,416 66,216 67,800 10,846
Cleveland County 431 707,406 29 4,707 68,904 91,837 7,703
Rockingham County 421 619,800 30 3,974 55,416 89,849 6,898
Moore County 360 616,673 31 4,003 60,464 69,990 8,811
Carteret County 406 598,704 32 3,510 53,416 59,560 10,052
Lee County 292 591,946 33 3,109 51,035 48,176 12,287
Haywood County 266 569,825 34 2,847 46,525 51,039 11,165
Lenoir County 352 565,558 35 3,597 51,220 59,026 9,582
Burke County 315 557,789 36 3,079 46,233 81,862 6,814
Watauga County 342 519,808 37 3,207 44,261 40,738 12,760
Caldwell County 330 515,134 38 3,329 45,774 75,561 6,817
Stanly County 265 472,259 39 2,722 44,482 55,575 8,498
Halifax County 306 461,971 40 3,255 43,674 56,622 8,159
Wilkes County 259 458,624 41 2,906 41,252 62,367 7,354
Vance County 251 454,018 42 2,763 42,058 41,692 10,890
Rutherford County 286 443,512 43 2,861 41,072 60,143 7,374
Harnett County 284 443,249 44 2,713 37,033 80,580 5,501
Dare County 389 442,356 45 2,494 43,366 27,935 15,835
Brunswick County 276 441,940 46 2,490 38,057 65,827 6,714
Lincoln County 212 406,220 47 2,346 36,594 57,217 7,100
Pasquotank County 201 405,035 48 2,548 37,642 35,200 11,507
Columbus County 296 387,662 49 2,565 37,397 52,384 7,400
Beaufort County 234 386,040 50 2,398 33,135 44,271 8,720
Sampson County 246 373,789 51 2,125 31,089 51,750 7,223
Richmond County 229 368,230 52 2,165 32,807 46,024 8,001
Macon County 241 308,101 53 1,750 27,453 27,689 11,127
Duplin County 226 280,387 54 1,879 25,174 42,842 6,545
McDowell County 167 273,425 55 1,557 21,955 39,103 6,992
Scotland County 178 255,265 56 1,856 26,055 35,658 7,159
Person County 160 250,233 57 1,556 22,687 33,252 7,525
Chatham County 177 226,094 58 1,451 21,331 44,670 5,061
Jackson County 178 220,611 59 1,472 20,075 29,725 7,422
Granville County 151 217,052 60 1,334 19,881 42,071 5,159
Cherokee County 139 217,030 61 1,266 18,257 22,289 9,737
Edgecombe County 196 214,222 62 1,631 21,473 55,633 3,851
Martin County 117 195,096 63 1,263 17,093 26,324 7,411
Hertford County 134 176,943 64 1,313 17,669 22,302 7,934
Franklin County 127 176,195 65 1,057 15,007 43,646 4,037
Yadkin County 144 167,929 66 851 13,624 34,516 4,865
Davie County 107 166,197 67 902 14,387 31,150 5,335
Ashe County 103 163,037 68 830 13,155 23,879 6,828
Transylvania County 110 158,230 69 1,127 14,940 27,880 5,675
Pender County 131 153,944 70 906 13,463 37,960 4,055
Alexander County 100 142,450 71 900 11,587 30,673 4,644
Montgomery County 100 137,049 72 825 11,715 23,977 5,716
Stokes County 118 135,508 73 774 11,657 42,621 3,179
Avery County 108 130,859 74 822 11,883 15,628 8,373
Bladen County 111 129,377 75 895 11,932 30,614 4,226
Yancey County 66 112,564 76 541 8,833 16,481 6,830
Chowan County 67 109,591 77 730 9,784 14,162 7,738
Anson County 96 105,436 78 771 9,770 24,297 4,339
Currituck County 81 98,570 79 541 10,203 17,291 5,701
Mitchell County 81 97,304 80 486 7,268 14,774 6,586
Northampton County 66 85,388 81 532 8,878 21,174 4,033
Washington County 65 71,031 82 446 6,354 13,812 5,143
Bertie County 69 70,813 83 458 6,532 20,510 3,453
Hoke County 74 67,483 84 486 5,910 29,364 2,298
Polk County 61 63,344 85 417 5,943 16,640 3,807
Swain County 118 62,076 86 472 6,264 12,193 5,091
Alleghany County 53 59,017 87 317 4,658 9,776 6,037
Pamlico County 49 53,827 88 364 4,982 12,143 4,433
Clay County 38 52,200 89 324 3,829 8,312 6,280
Madison County 51 49,026 90 327 4,024 18,536 2,645
Greene County 38 47,668 91 302 4,214 18,058 2,640
Graham County 36 44,558 92 278 3,477 7,647 5,827
Warren County 55 44,128 93 369 5,308 18,172 2,428
Caswell County 49 43,996 94 267 3,856 22,130 1,988
Gates County 29 41,767 95 248 3,066 9,952 4,197
Jones County 30 33,684 96 142 2,179 9,469 3,557
Perquimans County 38 31,700 97 274 3,002 11,101 2,856
Hyde County 36 26,782 98 164 2,539 5,626 4,760
Tyrrell County 19 18,129 99 107 1,445 3,755 4,828
Camden County 24 14,853 100 128 1,611 6,720 2,210

These data include establishments with paid employees, except auxiliaries.
Source: 1997 Economic Census, and 1997 population estimates, data available as of 11/29/99 For data issued since that date, or other areas, see www.census.gov/econ97.