The numbers tell a story
There is a person in Guilford County who described a challenge in family life this way in the recent Family Insight Survey.
Our take home pay does not cover as much as it used to cover. We are one major car repair or unexpected incident to not being able to pay ALL of our bills.
They didn’t cite a statistic. They didn’t reference a report. They just told the truth about their days.
And yet, their words land differently when you hold them alongside the data.
- More than 374,000 children in North Carolina lived in poverty in 2024.
- Nearly half of all renters in the state (48%) are cost-burdened, spending more than 30% of their income on housing.
- In 2024, nearly 195,000 families faced an eviction filing , a jump of almost 30,000 over the previous year.
- A family of four needs an income over $97,000 to cover modest living expenses in this state. The median household income is $74,000.
Sources: NC Budget & Tax Center; U.S. Census Bureau (ACS 2024); North Carolina Housing Coalition; The Eviction Lab (Princeton University); NC Administrative Office of the Courts; Annie E. Casey Foundation (KIDS COUNT).
The numbers are significant. But they are also easy to scroll past. What we lose when we only look at the data without looking at the families behind it is context. This context is the very thing that should be driving our work. Understanding; not just what is happening to NC families, but how it feels, what they’re trying, and what they still believe is possible.
That gap between the data and families’ lived experience is the territory the Family Insight Survey and Dashboard is trying to bridge. Now in its third year, the Family Insight Survey invites families, caregivers, advocates, and all North Carolina residents to share their lived experiences about family life in their communities.
This is not a passive data collection exercise. As Claudia Perry, Director of the Institute for Family, put it: “At a time when North Carolinians are navigating economic pressure, childcare challenges, and changing community supports, listening matters more than ever. This survey gives families and community members a direct way to shape the data, conversations, and solutions that influence how systems show up for them.”
The resulting dashboard combines statewide data, survey insights, and stories from families to highlight the people behind the numbers; offering a county-level tool for leaders, practitioners and champions across sectors.
That cross-sector framing is important. We are in a moment when nearly 59% of North Carolina’s rural residents do not earn a family-sustaining wage, when housing costs are rising in 91 of 100 counties, the safety net for families is comprised of multiple systems. It is facing real and serious pressure. Cross sector collaboration is more important than ever.
The dashboard is powerful precisely because it refuses to let the numbers stand alone. It asks: What do families say they need? What is working well for them in their lives? What do they wish the family support systems in their communities offered? Those answers don’t just humanize the data; they make it actionable.
If you serve families in North Carolina in any sector, any county, any capacity we’d encourage you to do two things. First, share the survey with the families you work with and your own community networks, insights are collected year-round. Every response helps paint a living picture of family life that informs decisions rooted in community truth. Second, spend time with the dashboard itself. It has been refreshed with new insights and current data. Pull up your county. Read what families are saying. Let it sit with you before you move on to the next meeting, the next report, the next intake form.
The numbers have names, faces, hopes and dreams. It’s time to learn them.