Source: Zachery Eanes, NEWS & OBSERVER, 12/18/18


When the clock strikes midnight this New Year’s Eve, Cumberland County will join the ranks of some of the most economically distressed counties in North Carolina. That’s when the county — home to North Carolina’s sixth-largest city in Fayetteville — becomes a Tier 1 county in the eyes of the state. Cumberland will be one of more than a dozen counties to be downgraded this year — a higher than usual amount due to changes that the N.C. General Assembly made earlier this year to the state’s tier system. In total, 28 counties will move up or down the tier rankings next year.

For more of this story, click here.