Our region is growing fast. Not every neighbor
is growing with us.
Our four counties, Wake, Durham, Orange, and Johnston, draw new residents and new employers year after year. We rank among the most sought-after places to live in the country, and our economy continues to outpace most of the rest of the United States.
Source: U.S. News & World Report, 2025–2026.
Durham
Raleigh
Source: Geography of Prosperity Index, 2026.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2024–2025.
Behind the rankings, a different picture. One in three households across our four counties cannot afford the basic cost of living. That is 262,368 of our neighbors. Most are ALICE: Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed. In everyday terms, ALICE is the working poor. People holding full-time jobs in our region who still cannot afford to live here. They work in the businesses, schools, and hospitals our economy depends on. Many earn above the federal poverty line and still cannot keep up with the cost of living.
across our four counties cannot afford the basic cost of living
is what a single adult in Wake County needs each year just to cover basics, compared with a federal poverty line of $14,580
of households in Johnston County, our fastest-growing county, fall below the ALICE Threshold
United For ALICE 2025 Report, data year 2023
Since 2014, the distance between what our neighbors earn and what they need to cover basic costs has grown 68.1%.
That gap is now $25,316 a year.
The Triangle’s prosperity is real. It is not reaching all of us.
Increase in the gap since 2014
annual shortfall between earnings and basic costs
Economic mobility runs in two directions. Across
our four counties, some of our neighbors are climbing
toward stability and beyond. Others are slipping back.
Many are stuck in place. United Way Greater Triangle
exists to make the climb shorter for more of them,
and to make sure no neighbor who slips slides far.
We invest in community-driven solutions, convene the partners who can move them forward, and amplify what’s working. We serve the nonprofits and community leaders building those solutions on the ground. We also serve the residents, donors, and business leaders ready to be part of a region-wide shift toward shared prosperity.
Think of us as the plus sign. When one dollar of funding meets one dollar of aligned effort, the result can be three, four, or five dollars of community impact. That multiplier is what United Way is for. We are the connector that turns separate, well-meaning work into shared, sustained progress.
We fund a network of nonprofit partners working across all four counties. Use the map to see who’s working in your community and where their focus is.
Our full report goes further into the numbers,
with county-by-county breakdowns and the sources behind every figure on this page.
Align your giving, your people, and your presence with the work that moves our neighbors forward.
Every dollar you give moves a household closer to thriving across our four counties.
