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Study details cost of living numbers in NC
USA TODAY NETWORK
A study from financial information company SmartAsset has defined what it takes to be "middle class" in all 50 states using 2024 one-year American Community Survey data from the U.S. Census Bureau.
There are several definitions of the term "middle class," as explained by SmartAsset. Some expectations associated with the term include bringing home enough income to afford home ownership, child-rearing, occasional vacations or other splurges and the "comfort of modest emergency funds and retirement savings."
In the recent study, however, SmartAsset used Pew Research Center's definition of middle-class households: a range of two-thirds to twice the median household income.
States with the highest incomes needed by households to maintain a middle-class standing included Massachusetts at No. 1, followed by New Jersey and Maryland, while those with the lowest needed incomes included Mississippi at No. 50, followed by West Virginia and Louisiana.
Here's what the study found on North Carolina and more.
What is the median income in NC?
SmartAsset found that the median income in North Carolina was $73,958.
What is considered middle class in NC?
According to SmartAsset's data, the Tar Heel State ranked No. 36 out of the 50 states for the highest amount of income needed to be considered middle class.
Using Pew Research's definition of the bounds of the middle class as "two-thirds to two-times the median income," SmartAsset found that in North Carolina, an "upper bound for middle class income" was $147,916 and a "lower bound for middle class income" was $49,305.
What is the cost of living in NC?
Financial independence site SoFi.com found that the average yearly cost of living throughout N.C. is roughly $53,334.
This included $9,620 for housing and utilities, $8,744 for healthcare, $4,274 for food and beverages, excluding restaurants, $1,322 for gasoline and energy goods, and $29,374 for all other personal expenses.
How much does it cost to buy a house in NC? To rent?
A report from the housing website Zillow.com found that the typical home value for North Carolina in 2026 was $338,359. Most recent reports from Zillow found that the average cost to rent a home across all available N.C. properties was $1,800.
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
NC recreational flounder season returns
USA TODAY NETWORK
Ken Blevins caught this flounder near Topsail Island on opening
day of the recreational flounder season on Sept. 1, 2025. The
two-week season includes a limit of one per day and the flounder
must be at least 15 inches long.
USA TODAY NETWORK
The recreational flounder fishing season, like last year, is only two weeks long, and the number of fish anglers can catch remains small.
With biologists still concerned about the status of the fishery, despite what some fishermen say they see out on the water, the 2026 season will be severely curtailed compared to what it was even just a few years ago.
But for fans of North Carolina's most popular saltwater sport fish, the upcoming recreational flounder season is always something to look forward to every year − when there is one. The 2024 season was completely canceled by state regulators worried about overfishing pressures, a move that prompted massive negative feedback from fishermen and coastal officials.
Recreational season details
The upcoming season will mirror the rules and regulations of the 2025 season.
"North Carolina's decision to open the 2026 recreational season to match last year's season stems from a review of recreational data from 2025 and deliberate management actions aimed at balancing sustainability with angler access," said Kathy Rawls with the N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries in a news release announcing the 2026 season. "Whenever we can, we aim to provide some consistency in the recreational flounder seasons from year to year." „
■Season: Runs from 12:01 a.m. Sept. 1 to 11:59 p.m. Sept. 14. „
■Amount: Anglers are allowed to catch one fish per day. „
â– Size: Flounder must be at least 15 inches in length, from snout to tip of the tail.
■„ Equipment: Flounder can only be caught with hook-and-line gear or via gig.
■„ Reporting: As with other popular N.C. sport fish, all catches must be reported to marine fisheries. Reporting methods include an online form and an iPhone App.Aligning the rules
While the vast majority of flounder are caught in salt waters managed by marine fisheries, some flounder also are caught in brackish, upstream waters managed by the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission. To help minimize any confusion among anglers, the two agencies will run their recreational flounder seasons over the same two weeks and with the same rules.
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
NC airman shot down in WWII identified after 84 years
JOSH SHAFFER The News & Observer (Raleigh)
A U.S. Army pilot shot down over Egypt and missing in action since World War II has been identified by DNA analysis and will return to North Carolina for burial in September — home after 84 years.
Capt. Marvin Lancaster was 24 in 1942 when his P-40F Warhawk crashed in Egypt's western desert, attacked by German forces during a strafing mission in the second battle of El Alamein.
Days later, British forces recovered and buried the remains of an unknown pilot near a downed U.S. fighter, designating them X-7.
Those remains got reinterred in a British cemetery, then transferred to American authorities, who declared them unidentifiable in 1949 and buried them in what is now the North African American Cemetery.
Lancaster grew up in the small Craven County town of Vanceboro, home to roughly 800 people both during the war and now. His younger sister's obituary noted that the family of 15 children grew up on a tenant farm, children of the Great Depression.
Newspapers statewide recorded his graduation from flight school in Alabama and his commission as a second lieutenant in the Army Air Corps, then finally news of his being lost in action. His brother Clifton served with the Navy in the Pacific.
Lancaster remained a memory and mystery until 2024, when his remains were moved to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency for laboratory analysis. Scientists used both anthropology and mitochondrial DNA to determine the pilot's identity.
On Sept. 18, he will be buried with family attending, back in his hometown.
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