Jacksonville is a larger medium-sized coastal city (i.e. on the ocean, a bay, or inlet) located in the state of North Carolina. With a population of 70,420 people and 28 associated neighborhoods, Jacksonville is the 14th largest community in North Carolina. Jacksonville has seen a significant amount of newer housing growth in recent years. Quite often, new home construction is the result of new residents moving in who are middle class or wealthier, attracted by jobs, a healthy local economy, or other amenities as they leave nearby or far away areas for greener pastures. This seems to be the case in Jacksonville, where the median household income is $50,185.00.

The armed forces are a huge part of the life in Jacksonville, employing 25.20% of the workforce. While it is a military town, the civilian sector still plays an important role in the local economy, where the Accommodation and Retail industries employ 16.17% and 15.07% of the civilian workforce, respectively.

Telecommuters are a relatively large percentage of the workforce: 8.53% of people work from home. While this number may seem small overall, as a fraction of the total workforce it is high relative to the nation. These workers are often telecommuters who work in knowledge-based, white-collar professions. For example, Silicon Valley has large numbers of people who telecommute. Other at-home workers may be self-employed people who operate small businesses out of their homes.

One thing noticeable about Jacksonville, although not a huge city, is that it has a large population of people who are young, single, educated, and upwardly-mobile career starters. That’s because Jacksonville is full of single people in their 20s and 30s and who have undergraduate or graduate degrees and are starting careers in professional occupations. This makes Jacksonville a pretty good place for young, educated career starters looking to find many people like themselves, with good opportunities for friendships, socializing, romance, and fun.

Jacksonville is also nautical, which means that parts of it are somewhat historic and touch the ocean or tidal bodies of water, such as inlets and bays. Such areas are often places that visitors and locals go for waterfront activities or taking in the scenery.

Compared to the rest of the country, citizens of Jacksonville spend much less time in their cars: on average, their commute to work is only 17.37 minutes. This also means that noise and pollution levels in the city are less than they would otherwise be.

The population of Jacksonville overall has a level of education that is slightly above the US average for all US cities and towns of 21.84%. Of adults 25 and older in Jacksonville, 24.71% have at least a bachelor's degree.

The per capita income in Jacksonville in 2022 was $26,808, which is lower middle income relative to North Carolina and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $107,232 for a family of four. However, Jacksonville contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.

Jacksonville is an extremely ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Jacksonville home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Jacksonville residents report their race to be White, followed by Black or African-American. Jacksonville also has a sizeable Hispanic population (people of Hispanic origin can be of any race). People of Hispanic or Latino origin account for 19.24% of the city’s residents. Important ancestries of people in Jacksonville include German, Irish, English, Italian, and French.

The most common language spoken in Jacksonville is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and French.