Western North Carolina Vitality Index

Western North Carolina’s “creative economy” encompasses a diverse array of occupations, including photographers, writers and authors, musicians and singers, fine artists, designers, actors, architects and landscape architects, librarians, and public relations professionals. In 2011, total jobs in this sector were 14,233.

A breakdown of the region’s creative sector jobs is shown in the accompanying table. Some creative occupations are better represented in Western North Carolina than statewide or nationally on a per capita basis. This is particularly true of landscape architects, commercial and industrial designers, set and exhibit designers, music directors and composers, and craft artisans (compared to state averages). Data are drawn from the Creative Vitality Index (CVI) diagnostic tool, which identifies standard creative occupations. Because the data are compiled from national labor statistics that rely on self-reporting, it is likely that the number of creative occupations is undercounted.

Location Quotient (LQ) is an index value for each occupation, measuring whether or not there is a per capita concentration of an occupation within the area being measured. In the accompanying table, the CVI scores of Western North Carolina are compared with state and national averages, which are each set to a benchmark index score of 1.00. For example, compared to the state average, the LQ score for Writers and Authors in Western North Carolina is 1.17, meaning that the number of writers and authors in Western North Carolina is 17% higher than in the state as a whole (on a per capita basis).

Creative Occupations in Western North Carolina*, 2011

Occupation Type	Jobs	LQ (compared to state)	LQ (compared to nation)
Photographers	2,619	1.00	0.82
Musicians and Singers	1,768	1.22	1.03
Writers and Authors	1,327	1.17	0.92
Graphic Designers	1,122	0.95	0.81
Art Directors	646	1.21	0.92
Music Directors and Composers	590	1.19	1.21
Multi-Media Artists and Animators	574	1.09	0.88
Directors, Religious Activities	568	1.10	1.38
Public Relations Specialists	559	0.76	0.51
Librarians	499	0.87	0.90
Architects, Except Landscape and Naval	426	0.93	0.72
Floral Designers	362	1.21	1.12
Editors	349	0.93	0.64
Interior Designers	285	1.05	0.96
Radio and Television Announcers	268	0.98	0.88
Producers and Directors	223	0.94	0.54
Commercial and Industrial Designers	215	1.45	1.10
Fine Artists including Painters, Sculptors, and Illustrators	204	1.19	0.94
Agents and Business Managers of Artists, Performers, and Athletes	195	1.12	0.87
Actors	174	1.08	0.60
Media and Communication Workers, All Other	174	0.96	0.74
Landscape Architects	143	1.56	1.35
Advertising and Promotion Managers	124	0.98	0.61
Audio and Video Equipment Technicians	123	0.84	0.52
Public Relations Managers	115	0.63	0.50
Broadcast Technicians	108	0.93	0.77
Set and Exhibit Designers	85	1.27	1.37
Fashion Designers	65	1.09	0.60
Film and Video Editors	55	0.82	0.57
Technical Writers	51	0.37	0.28
Camera Operators, Television, Video, and Motion Picture	49	0.73	0.45
Choreographers	46	1.12	0.57
Sound Engineering Technicians	33	0.90	0.45
Dancers	31	0.93	0.50
Musical Instrument Repairers and Tuners	30	0.99	0.85
Media and Communication Equipment Workers, All Other	28	0.60	0.37
Total	14,233
Craft Artisans **	453	1.32	not available

Source: Economic Modeling Specialists, Inc. Complete Employment

* Data are available for 23 counties: Alleghany, Ashe, Avery, Buncombe, Burke, Caldwell, Cherokee, Clay, Graham, Haywood, Henderson, Jackson, Macon, Madison, McDowell, Mitchell, Polk, Rutherford, Swain, Transylvania, Watauga, Wilkes, and Yancey.

** Craft Artisans are not included in the CVI’s standard set of creative occupations.