Gastonia is a larger medium-sized city located in the state of North Carolina. With a population of 85,535 people and 39 associated neighborhoods, Gastonia is the 13th largest community in North Carolina.

A relatively large number of people in Gastonia telecommute to their jobs. Overall, about 11.96% of the workforce works from home. While this may seem like a small number, as a fraction of the total workforce it ranks among the highest in the country. These workers are often telecommuters who work in knowledge-based, white-collar professions. For example, Silicon Valley has large numbers of people who telecommute. Other at-home workers may be self-employed people who operate small businesses out of their homes.

In terms of college education, Gastonia is somewhat better educated than the 21.84% who have a 4-year degree or higher in the typical US community: 26.57% of adults 25 and older in the city have at least a bachelor's degree.

The per capita income in Gastonia in 2022 was $35,174, which is upper middle income relative to North Carolina, and middle income relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $140,696 for a family of four. However, Gastonia contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.

Gastonia is an extremely ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Gastonia home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Gastonia residents report their race to be White, followed by Black or African-American. Gastonia also has a sizeable Hispanic population (people of Hispanic origin can be of any race). People of Hispanic or Latino origin account for 12.79% of the city’s residents. Important ancestries of people in Gastonia include English, German, Irish, Scottish, and Scots-Irish.

The most common language spoken in Gastonia is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and African languages.