The Wilmington metro area recorded the highest percentage of employment growth in North Carolina over the past year.

According to new Current Employment Statistics data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Wilmington metropolitan statistical area – which includes New Hanover, Brunswick and Pender counties – added approximately 5,900 nonfarm payroll jobs between February 2025 and February 2026. Overall, employment in the Wilmington MSA grew by 3.1% over the year. 

The Raleigh-Cary metro area added the most jobs in the state, with approximately 13,300, while the Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia metro area (located in both North Carolina and South Carolina) added about 9,300. Employment grew by 1.8% in the Raleigh-Cary area and 0.7% in the Charlotte area, according to the report.

Additionally, Fayetteville and Jacksonville reported job losses during the same period, with employment declining 2.1% and 1.4%, respectively. The Durham-Chapel Hill metro area lost about 3,800 jobs, a 1.1% decline. 

Mouhcine Guettabi, Wilmington's regional economist and an associate professor of economics at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, said the Wilmington area has consistently been one of the fastest-growing metros in North Carolina over the past four and a half years, while the state experienced decelerated growth. 

“Wilmington is one of the areas that's been a winner from COVID in that it's benefited from significant relocations,” Guettabi told the Business Journal on Thursday. “It’s benefited from a significant amount of injection of dollars that have occurred over the last few years, either from people moving to the area or from capital entering the area.” 

Nationally, Wilmington ranked No. 8 for employment growth percentage among 387 metropolitan areas included in the report. Barnstable, Massachusetts, ranked first with growth of 5.5%, led by gains in professional and business services. 

According to the report breakdown of job growth in Wilmington, the largest job sectors in the Wilmington area are trade, transportation and utilities; education and health services; leisure and hospitality; and government. 

Leisure and hospitality services added the most jobs to the area over the past year, growing 8.2%, followed by education and health services at 4.3%, according to the report. 

The growth in the leisure and hospitality industry is notable and gives Guettabi pause, he said, as the sector's consistent growth doesn’t reflect the typical slowdowns it experiences during nonseasonal months. The growth may indicate that Wilmington is becoming less seasonal and is keeping jobs created over the summer, Guettabi said, which is significant. 

“If the strength in leisure and hospitality is here to stay, then that's a really big deal,” Guettabi said, “that signals a fairly big shift in spending power or economic activity in the region. I think it's a little too early to tell.”

Jean Guinup, Wilmington Area Hospitality Association board of directors president, said there’s been a concerted effort to make Wilmington less seasonal. 

"The CVB (Wilmington and Beaches Convention & Visitors Bureau) is definitely working on that,” Guinup said. “There’s this purposeful intention to make that happen."

As for how successful the efforts have been, Guinup said she believes they’re starting to show results. 

"The hotels are working with what’s occurring and the events in the area to try to partner with them, to create greater awareness to the visitor market that there are things to do in the offseason,” Guinup added.

Alternatively, Guettabi noted that the growth in hospitality and leisure jobs reflected in the Labor Statistics data might be due to temporary factors, such as one-off events affecting hiring numbers, rather than an overall shift, or other quirks not fully captured in the data collection. 

Trade, transportation, and utilities account for the largest share of jobs in the Wilmington area, though these industries experienced slower job growth, according to the report. The information industry, which includes telecom, media and communication, lost jobs over the year, with a 3.2% decline. 

The employment gains align with population trends. According to U.S. Census Bureau data from July 2024 and July 2025, the Wilmington metro area population grew by more than 12,000 residents, an increase of 2.6%. The Wilmington area ranked No. 7 nationally in population growth, while the Raleigh-Cary area ranked No. 10.

Separately, data from NC Tech’s annual State of the Technology Industry Report, based on 2024 data, indicated that the Wilmington area ranked among the top 15 cities nationwide for white-collar job growth.

The report also found Wilmington’s workforce outpaced state and national averages.

According to Guettabi, Wilmington experienced a slight deceleration in growth in 2024 and 2025, down from post-pandemic levels. Recent data suggest some re-acceleration, he said. 

“The sustainability of the growth is contingent on a few things, partially maintaining affordability, or attempts to make sure that we can still attract and retain good workers, quality of life, and infrastructure,” Guettabi said. “Growth is not painless. This growth is great, but it comes with difficulties such as increased cost of living, housing in particular, to ensuring that we have amenities for the older population, healthcare in particular, (and) ensuring that roads are not jammed.” 

“It’s sustainable,” he added, “if there are things that are done in order to ensure that quality of life remains high.”