1980 Census of Population and Housing
Summary Tape File 3
North Carolina
Highlights
• One- Parent Families: Among the 812,561 North Carolina families with some of their
own children under 18 years of age in 1980, 148,616 ( 18.3 percent) were single­parent
families, which are families maintained by a male or female householder with
no spouse present. This is up from 12.5 percent in 1970. The 1980 percentage for
the nation was approximately 19 percent. Those North Carolina families with own
children under 18 and a female householder with no husband present made up 16 per­cent
of all families with own children under 18 years. However, the rates differ
for householders by race: 10.6 percent for whites and 34.8 percent for blacks.
• Urban/ Rural: North Carolina became somewhat more urban between 1970 and 1980,
increasing from 45.0 percent to 48.0 percent. The portion of the rural population
that is " farm" decreased in the 10- year period from 13.4 percent to 8.8 percent,
based on the 1970 definition of farm.
• Group Quarters: Almost 195,000 persons were in group quarters ( living arrangements
other than households) in 1980. Of these, 2.7 percent were in mental hospitals,
15.2 percent in homes for the aged, 13.9 percent in other types of institutions,
40.2 percent in college dormitories, and 28.0 percent in all other group quarters
including military barracks.
• Education: For North Carolina, 54.8 percent of residents 25 years and over have
completed at least four years of high school. In 1970, only 38.5 percent had
attained that level of education. For whites, the 1980 rate was 57.8 percent and
43.0 percent for blacks. In 1980, 13.2 percent of persons 25 and older had
completed at least 4 years of college in the State. The rates were 14.7 percent
for whites and 7.3 percent for blacks.
School enrollment from nursery school through high school for ages 3- 34 ( 1970)
and ages 3 and over ( 1980) has increased 76 percent in the private schools ( 62,093
to 109,318); yet total enrollment through high school increased only 5.4 percent
over the last decade.
• Language Spoken at Home: In 1980, approximately one out of every 42 North
Carolinians 5 years old and over reported speaking a language other than English at
home. This compares with one out of every 10 persons nationwide. One third of
these in North Carolina indicated Spanish as the language spoken. Around 2,400
school- age children and almost 10,000 adults who spoke a foreign language at home
characterized their ability to speak English as " not well" or " not at all."