Asheville’s economy combines a growing Buncombe County output base, a broad metropolitan labor market, substantial healthcare and hospitality activity, and high housing costs relative to household resources. The figures below cover different geographies and periods: Asheville city, Buncombe County, and the Asheville metropolitan statistical area are not interchangeable.
Contents
- Economic output and growth
- Labor-market conditions
- Industry employment mix
- Households, housing, and education
- Consumer and service-sector activity
- Income and poverty
- Healthcare occupations and wages
Economic output and growth
The Bureau of Economic Analysis reported Buncombe County real GDP of $13,843,747 thousand in chained 2017 dollars in 2020. The measure rose to $14,959,492 thousand in 2021, $15,528,361 thousand in 2022, and $16,035,112 thousand in 2023. These are county-level figures, not Asheville-city totals.
The year-over-year growth pattern was strongest in the first interval covered. Buncombe County real GDP grew 8.1% from 2020 to 2021, followed by growth of 3.8% from 2021 to 2022 and 3.3% from 2022 to 2023. In 2023, Buncombe County ranked seventh among North Carolina counties by real GDP.
| Year | Buncombe County real GDP |
|---|---|
| 2020 | $13,843,747 thousand |
| 2021 | $14,959,492 thousand |
| 2022 | $15,528,361 thousand |
| 2023 | $16,035,112 thousand |
Source: Gross Domestic Product by County, 2020–2023. BEA values are thousands of chained 2017 dollars.
Labor-market conditions
In August 2026, the Asheville metropolitan area had a civilian labor force of 201.2 thousand people. Employment was 194.6 thousand, while unemployment was 6.7 thousand. The resulting unemployment rate was 3.3%.
These August 2026 BLS values are preliminary and not seasonally adjusted. They describe the Asheville metropolitan statistical area, which includes Buncombe, Henderson, and Madison counties. They therefore cover a wider labor market than Asheville city or Buncombe County alone.
The labor-force figures offer a snapshot of participation in the metro area at a particular point in time. They should be read alongside the industry employment data, which count nonfarm wage and salary jobs rather than people in the civilian labor force. The two series answer related but different questions: one describes people’s labor-market status, while the other describes jobs by industry.
Source: Asheville, NC Economy at a Glance.
Industry employment mix
Asheville metropolitan nonfarm wage and salary employment totaled 187.9 thousand jobs in August 2026. The largest reported industry group was trade, transportation, and utilities, with 35.2 thousand jobs. Education and health services followed with 35.6 thousand, while leisure and hospitality accounted for 27.2 thousand. Government employment was 22.2 thousand, and professional and business services represented 20.1 thousand.
Manufacturing employed 18.7 thousand people. Mining, logging, and construction accounted for 11.1 thousand jobs. Other services had 9.4 thousand, financial activities had 6.5 thousand, and information had 1.9 thousand.
| Industry | Jobs, August 2026 |
|---|---|
| Education and health services | 35.6 thousand |
| Trade, transportation, and utilities | 35.2 thousand |
| Leisure and hospitality | 27.2 thousand |
| Government | 22.2 thousand |
| Professional and business services | 20.1 thousand |
| Manufacturing | 18.7 thousand |
| Mining, logging, and construction | 11.1 thousand |
| Other services | 9.4 thousand |
| Financial activities | 6.5 thousand |
| Information | 1.9 thousand |
Year-over-year changes varied by sector through August 2026. Professional and business services employment increased 4.1%, leisure and hospitality increased 2.3%, and education and health services increased 0.3%. Trade, transportation, and utilities employment changed 0.0%. Manufacturing employment decreased 1.6%, and government employment decreased 0.9%.
The employment mix points to several major economic roles operating at once: healthcare and education, visitor-facing services, logistics and retail-linked activity, public employment, manufacturing, and professional services. The BLS figures are preliminary and not seasonally adjusted for August 2026.
Households, housing, and education
U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts estimated 37,394 households in Asheville city during 2020–2024, with an average of 2.43 persons per household. The owner-occupied housing-unit rate was 51.9%. The median value of owner-occupied housing units was $440,000, while median monthly owner costs with a mortgage were $1,886. Median gross rent was $1,402.
These housing measures describe the city rather than the metro area. They also cover the 2020–2024 period, so they should not be treated as a single-month market quote. Together, they show the housing costs and tenure structure faced by city households during that five-year period.
Digital access was widespread but not universal. Households with a computer represented 92.8% of Asheville city households, and households with a broadband Internet subscription represented 90.5% during 2020–2024.
Educational attainment was also high among city residents age 25 and older. High school graduates or higher represented 94.1% of that population, while 53.4% held a bachelor’s degree or higher. These are Asheville-city measures and should not be generalized automatically to every worker or resident in the three-county metropolitan area.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts: Asheville city, North Carolina.
Consumer and service-sector activity
The city’s 2022 receipts and sales data show sizeable activity in healthcare, retail, accommodation and food services, and transportation. Asheville city health-care and social-assistance receipts or revenue totaled $3,993,893 thousand in 2022. Retail sales totaled $4,582,683 thousand, or $48,744 per capita.
Accommodation and food-services sales totaled $1,359,582 thousand. Transportation and warehousing receipts totaled $175,704 thousand. These measures are reported for Asheville city in 2022 and use sector-specific concepts—receipts or revenue, sales, and per-capita retail sales—so they are best used as indicators of activity rather than combined into one total.
The city’s civilian labor-force participation rate among people age 16 and older was 61.8% during 2020–2024. The female civilian labor-force participation rate was 56.3% over the same period. These participation measures cover residents, while the industry totals above count jobs located in the metropolitan area; the geographic and statistical units differ.
Income and poverty
Asheville city median household income was $71,102 in 2024 dollars during 2020–2024. Per capita income in the past 12 months was $45,430 in 2024 dollars during the same period. The Census Bureau reported that people in poverty represented 14.3% of the city’s population.
The use of 2024 dollars matters: the income values are inflation-adjusted to that dollar basis, and they cover a five-year period rather than a single calendar year. The poverty percentage is a city-level measure for 2020–2024. It should be considered alongside the city’s $440,000 median owner-occupied housing value, $1,886 median monthly owner cost with a mortgage, and $1,402 median gross rent, without assuming that any one figure explains household financial conditions by itself.
Healthcare occupations and wages
Healthcare practitioners and technical occupations employed 14,890 people in the Asheville metropolitan area in May 2025. The occupation group had a 1.30 location quotient and a $56.17 mean hourly wage. A location quotient above 1 indicates that the occupation group’s concentration is above the comparison benchmark used in the BLS release; the statistic is not a wage measure.
Registered nurses were the largest specifically reported occupation, with 4,680 employed people, a 1.19 location quotient, and a $42.85 mean hourly wage. Nurse anesthetists had 150 employed people, a 2.45 location quotient, and a $100.59 mean hourly wage. Physician assistants numbered 460, with a 2.44 location quotient and a $64.27 mean hourly wage.
Several other healthcare occupations had the following May 2025 estimates:
| Occupation | Employment | Mean hourly wage |
|---|---|---|
| General dentists | 140 | $95.48 |
| Optometrists | 40 | $78.34 |
| Pharmacists | 520 | $65.54 |
| Occupational therapists | 210 | $41.62 |
| Physical therapists | 300 | $47.46 |
| Respiratory therapists | 150 | $38.79 |
| Speech-language pathologists | 290 | $41.61 |
| Veterinarians | 190 | $64.27 |
The Asheville metro occupation estimates are from May 2025, not August 2026. The BLS release gives the metro area as the geographic unit, so these occupation counts and wages should not be compared directly with Asheville-city household income or city receipts as if they described the same population.
Source: Occupational Employment and Wages in Asheville, NC — May 2025. No forecasts are included in these measures.