New Bern is a medium-sized coastal city (i.e. on the ocean, a bay, or inlet) located in the state of North Carolina. With a population of 34,218 people and 14 associated neighborhoods, New Bern is the 32nd largest community in North Carolina. New Bern has seen a significant amount of newer housing growth in recent years. Quite often, new home construction is the result of new residents moving in who are middle class or wealthier, attracted by jobs, a healthy local economy, or other amenities as they leave nearby or far away areas for greener pastures. This seems to be the case in New Bern, where the median household income is $61,031.00.Unlike some cities where white-collar or blue-collar occupations dominate the local economy, New Bern is neither predominantly one nor the other. Instead, it has a mixed workforce of both white- and blue-collar jobs. Overall, New Bern is a city of professionals, service providers, and sales and office workers. There are especially a lot of people living in New Bern who work in sales jobs (10.97%), office and administrative support (8.27%), and management occupations (8.08%). There are quite a few people in the armed forces living in New Bern, and when you visit or drive around town, you will see military people in and out of uniform, shopping, enjoying life, and being part of the community. Also of interest is that New Bern has more people living here who work in computers and math than 95% of the places in the US. Telecommuters are a relatively large percentage of the workforce: 8.80% of people work from home. While this number may seem small overall, as a fraction of the total workforce it is high relative to the nation. 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 of the nice things about New Bern 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. The education level of New Bern citizens is substantially higher than the typical US community, as 29.40% of adults in New Bern have at least a bachelor's degree. The per capita income in New Bern in 2022 was $38,196, which is upper middle income relative to North Carolina and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $152,784 for a family of four. However, New Bern contains both very wealthy and poor people as well. New Bern is an extremely ethnically-diverse city. The people who call New Bern home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of New Bern residents report their race to be White, followed by Black or African-American. Important ancestries of people in New Bern include English, German, Irish, Italian, and Scottish. The most common language spoken in New Bern is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and Other Asian languages.
