2007-08 Adopted Plan - Wake County Public School System

Wake County DemographicsWake County Industry Base ComparisonTransportation80,00070,00060,00050,00040,00030,00019902005By the end of 2005, nearly 649,000 vehicles were registered in WakeCounty. This has led to more traffic and longer commutes for WakeCounty residents. The mean travel time to work in Wake County in2000 was 24.7 minutes. This is an increase in travel time of 23.5 percentfrom 1990, when it took only 20 minutes to travel to work in WakeCounty. However, between 2000 and 2004, average commute timesfell slightly from 24.7 to 23.2 minutes.20,00010,000-GovernmentNatural Resources and MiningConstructionManufacturingTrade Transportation and UtilitiesInformationFinancial ActivitiesEducation and Health ServicesProfessional and Business ServicesEducationLeisure and HospitalityOther ServicesUnclassifiedSchool enrollments for Grades K-12 have increased signifi cantly for theWake County Public School System (WCPSS). Between 1990 and 2005,WCPSS saw enrollment increase by more than 66,000 students. The rapidgrowth in school enrollments is expected to continue into 2020. WakeCounty has also witnessed increasing enrollment in charter schools andor residents in college or graduate school.Approximately 86 percent of Wake County residents indicated that theycommute alone to work. The second most popular mode was carpooling,which accounted for 10 percent of residents in 2004.In 2004, only 1.6 percent of commuters in Wake County took publictransportation to work. The national average is 4.9 percent. A similarpercentage (1.8%) indicated they walked or biked to work.At peak hours of travel, a signifi cant number of major travel corridorshave travel speeds below their posted limit. The Wake County TransportationPlan examined road corridors in Wake County’s planning jurisdictionand concluded that even with improvements by 2025, 25 ofthese road corridors willl be at or above capacity.Since 1990, the level of educational attainment among Wake County residentshas risen substantially. The number of residents with less than ahigh school degree or a high school degree remained fairly stable between1990 and 2004. The fastest rates of increase were in residents with abachelor’s degree (128%), a graduate or professional degree (156%), orsome college but no degree (55%). By 2004, 49 percent of Wake Countyresidents had a bachelor’s or high degree, up from 35 percent in 1990.This is much higher than the 2004 percent of North Carolina residentswith a bachelor’s or higher degree (25%) or the national rate (27%).384