WNC Creative Economy

2025 Creative Economy Snapshot

The creative economy is one of Western North Carolina’s greatest strengths, fueling jobs, local businesses, and cultural vitality across the region’s 28 counties. A new regional snapshot, produced for WNC Arts, paints a detailed picture of how the sector is performing—and how challenges like Tropical Storm Helene slowed growth in 2024. Separate county-level reports accompany the regional overview, allowing communities to drill down into their own local data while also seeing their place within the wider western North Carolina economy.

A Year Interrupted by Tropical Storm Helene

For much of 2024, the creative economy in Western North Carolina was moving steadily forward. But the arrival of Tropical Storm Helene in September dealt a significant setback. Growth in the fourth quarter was stifled as artists, venues, and creative businesses contended with canceled events, property damage, and disruptions to tourism and local commerce. The effects are visible in the data: while both earnings and jobs continued to increase across the year, the pace slowed considerably compared to 2023.

Measuring the Creative Sector

This snapshot brings together data from two national systems to capture the breadth of the creative economy. The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) was used to track activity in 56 creative industries, while the Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) System identified 66 creative occupations across four worker classes. Together, they illustrate not only where the creative sector is thriving, but also where vulnerabilities remain.

Industry Trends: Slowing but Still Strong

Earnings across the creative economy grew in 2024, but at a much slower pace than the previous year. From 2022 to 2023, earnings jumped six percent, but from 2023 to 2024 that growth slowed to just 2.2 percent—a 63 percent decline in momentum. As one might put it, last year the region was driving on the highway; this year, it has slowed to neighborhood speed.

Manufacturing remains the largest driver of the creative economy, generating nearly $367 million in earnings and more than $1.1 billion in sales in 2024. Arts, entertainment, and recreation were also major players, with $310 million in earnings and $742 million in sales, followed closely by the information sector, which includes film, publishing, and recording, contributing $202 million in earnings and nearly $798 million in sales. Professional services such as graphic design and photography also added more than $130 million in earnings.

Within these sectors, the top industries varied by measure. Independent artists, writers, and performers led in earnings, while historical sites topped the list for sales, reflecting the strong role of cultural tourism. Printing, furniture manufacturing, and glassware also emerged as standout industries across the region.

Occupations: Growth at a Crawl

Job growth in the creative workforce also slowed significantly in 2024. The region saw a three percent increase in creative jobs from 2022 to 2023, but just a 1.4 percent gain in the following year—a 48 percent slowdown. Even so, the region still added jobs, reaching a total of 34,179 positions in creative occupations across the 28 counties.

The largest occupations highlight the diversity of the field. Photographers make up the biggest share with nearly 4,000 jobs, followed by writers and authors (2,422), musicians and singers (2,317), graphic designers (1,646), and meeting and event planners (1,644). Together, these professions reflect both the cultural output and the behind-the-scenes work that drives the sector.

Who Makes Up the Workforce?

The snapshot also sheds light on the demographics of the creative economy. The workforce skews slightly female, with women holding 55 percent of jobs. It spans all age ranges, but the largest share—over 40 percent—are workers between 25 and 44, highlighting the sector’s importance to mid-career professionals.

The workforce remains predominantly White at 79 percent, though there is growing diversity, with 8.6 percent identifying as Black or African American, 5.8 percent as Hispanic or Latino, and smaller but meaningful representation among Asian, multiracial, and Indigenous workers.

Looking Ahead

Despite the slowdown in growth, Western North Carolina’s creative economy remains a powerful economic engine, generating more than $1 billion in earnings and over $3.1 billion in sales across the region. With new county-level data available, leaders have the tools to make targeted investments and policies that support recovery and resilience.

The disruption caused by Tropical Storm Helene is a reminder of both the strengths and vulnerabilities of the arts sector. Building resilience—through infrastructure, funding, and planning—will be essential to ensuring the creative economy can continue to thrive and sustain the communities of Western North Carolina in the years to come.

County Snapshots

Additional Reports

Resources