Jacksonville is a larger medium-sized coastal city (i.e. on the ocean, a bay, or inlet) located in the state of North Carolina. With a population of 70,840 people and 28 associated neighborhoods, Jacksonville is the 14th largest community in North Carolina. Much of the housing stock in Jacksonville was built relatively recently. The construction of new real estate can often be taken as an indication that the local Jacksonville economy is robust, and that jobs or other amenities are attracting an influx of new residents. This seems to be the case in Jacksonville, where the median household income is $57,697.00.

27.64% of the workforce is employed in the armed forces, making the military a huge focus of life in Jacksonville. Even though it is a military town, the civilian sector still plays an important role in the local economy. The Retail and Accommodation industries respectively employ 15.61% and 13.25% of the civilian workforce.

One interesting thing about the economy is that relatively large numbers of people worked from their home: 12.84% of the workforce. While this number may seem small overall, as a fraction of the total workforce this is high compared to the rest of the county. 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.

One thing that you will notice about Jacksonville is that there is a good-sized population of people who are young, single, educated, and upwardly-mobile career starters. Many singles consider Jacksonville a good place to live without being in a really big city, with opportunities for friendships and fun with others like themselves.

One of the nice things about Jacksonville is that it is nautical, which means that parts of it are somewhat historic and touch the ocean or tidal bodies of water, such as inlets and bays. Because of this, visitors and locals will often go to these areas to take in the scenery or to enjoy waterfront activities.

Residents of the city have the good fortune of having one of the shortest daily commutes compared to the rest of the country. On average, they spend only 17.11 minutes getting to work every day.

The overall education level of Jacksonville is somewhat higher than in the average US city of 21.84%: 26.28% of adults 25 and older in the city have at least a bachelor's degree.

The per capita income in Jacksonville in 2022 was $30,271, which is middle income relative to North Carolina, and lower middle income relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $121,084 for a family of four. However, Jacksonville contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.

Jacksonville is an extremely ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Jacksonville home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Jacksonville residents report their race to be White, followed by Black or African-American. Jacksonville also has a sizeable Hispanic population (people of Hispanic origin can be of any race). People of Hispanic or Latino origin account for 19.90% of the city’s residents. Important ancestries of people in Jacksonville include Irish, German, English, Italian, and French.

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