Demographics of North Carolina

In particular, the cities of Charlotte and Raleigh have become major urban centers, with large, diverse, mainly affluent and rapidly growing populations.

African Americans are concentrated in the state's eastern Coastal Plain and in parts of the Piedmont Crescent, where they had historically worked and where the most new job opportunities have been.

African-American communities number by the hundreds in rural counties in the south-central and northeast North Carolina, and in predominantly black neighborhoods in the cities of Charlotte, Raleigh, Durham, Greensboro, Fayetteville, Wilmington, and Winston-Salem.

Some of the lighter-skinned descendants formed their own distinct communities, often identifying themselves as Indian or Portuguese to escape effects of the color line.

Events during the 1980s in Laos spurred Hmong immigration to North Carolina, as refugees fled wars and communist rule.

The earliest record of Asian immigration to North Carolina goes back to the mid-19th century when the first Chinese were hired as miners and agricultural workers.

The famous Thai "Siamese" twins – Eng and Chang Bunker – conjoined together at their chests, settled in Mt Airy, North Carolina in 1839.

In addition, there were waves of Protestant European immigration, including the British, Irish, French Huguenots,[28] and Swiss Germans who settled New Bern.

They were the last and most numerous of the immigrant groups from Britain and Ireland before the American Revolution, and settled throughout the Appalachian South, where they could continue their own culture.

[citation needed] Also the North Carolina coast attracted Basque fishermen from their homeland in Northern Spain and southwest France.

[citation needed] The seasonal residents known as "snowbirds" the majority are Canadians either English and French speaking live in coastal sections and beach towns every winter.

Once chiefly employed as migrant labor, Hispanic residents of the 1990s and early 21st century have been attracted to low-skilled jobs that are the first step on the economic ladder.

As a result, growing numbers of Hispanic immigrants are settling in the state, majority of which is from Mexico, but also from Puerto Rico, and to a lesser degree from other Caribbean and Central American countries.

In recent times, the rapid influx of northerners and immigrants from Latin America, is steadily increasing the number of Roman Catholics and Jews in the state.

The growing diversity of religious groups in North Carolina is most visible in the state's larger urban areas, such as Charlotte and Raleigh-Durham.

It was not until the late 19th to early 20th century, that Eastern European Jews began to arrive in large numbers to Piedmont cities such as Charlotte and Greensboro.

Today, most Jewish communities in North Carolina are centered around large Piedmont cities such as Charlotte, Raleigh, Greensboro, and Winston-Salem.

In recent years, Western North Carolina has also seen an influx of Jews, who have relocated to places such as Asheville and Boone, from Florida and the Northeast United States.