Based on a 2018 study by the National Retail Federation, 27% of all NC’s jobs are supported by the retail industry, representing 1 million direct retail jobs and 1.6 million total jobs supported across 128,600 retail establishments. Retail jobs bring $29.5 billion in direct labor income and $64.4 billion in total labor income, which creates a $41.8 billion direct impact and $105.7 billion total impact on the state’s GDP. 

In Western North Carolina, the overall concentration of jobs in the retail industry across an 18-county area was approximately 32% greater than the national average in 2022, according to Riverbird Research.

The 2017-2022 jobs growth rate of 4% was on par with that of the state, supporting the employment of 45,844 individuals across 3,690 payrolled business locations earning an average annual wage of $33,874, excluding supplements.

The retail industry in Buncombe County supported 17,273 of those jobs in 2022, followed by Henderson County’s retail businesses which supported 5,594 of those jobs.