After a dramatic drop during the Covid-19 pandemic's eviction moratorium, evictions in North Carolina have rebounded — and then some.
Data from the North Carolina Judicial Branch shows 4,133 evictions filed in fiscal year 24/25 in New Hanover County alone — the most filed in any year since statewide data became available. Across the entire state, there were 202,861 evictions filed in that same time period.
The statewide trend is particularly strong in fast-growing counties around major metros, like Pender, New Hanover, and Brunswick near Wilmington, or Chatham County near Raleigh. Mecklenburg County stood out especially — rising from 46,850 evictions in 2023/24 to 52,650 in 2024/2025. Pre-pandemic, Mecklenburg's evictions consistently stayed below 35,000 annually.
Attorney Zach Tooman said the rise in evictions is likely driven by rising rents. "The primary explanation is going to be price and affordability," he said. "In my experience, most eviction cases are premised on a non-payment issue or something to that effect."
Evictions can be a bit of a red letter for tenants, like Mary, who was evicted two years ago after she fled a domestic violence situation (WHQR is withholding her last name for privacy). Her landlord didn't care about the reason, and she got slapped with that term: evicted. "I didn't have anywhere to go, and it wasn't because of any decision I made," she said in a recent forum with Good Shepherd Center. She ended up being homeless for two years because landlords wouldn't rent to her, all thanks to that eviction.
New Hanover County Schools Social Worker Suzanne Biagini said those evictions are often just because of economic reasons. "I think people assume you made one catastrophic choice. And most of the folks that I encounter, in families that I encounter, they're operating on slim margins, thin margins, And it's death by 1,000 cuts."
Rents have risen an average of 31% across the state since 2017, but minimum wage has remained stagnant. To afford the average rent in the state of $1,185 a month (according to Apartmentlist.com), a resident would need to make $47,400 annually, or $22.80 an hour. According to the Census Bureau, more than 22% of households in Nort Carolina make less than $35,000 annually.
All told, the affordability crisis is the most likely cause of this steady rise in evictions. But it's also getting harder for tenants to defend themselves in court, Tooman says.
"Whoever loses in small claims court, they get to appeal to district court for a new trial," he explains.
If that's the tenant, they take it up to district court. But a state law enacted in November of 2024 (overriding the Governor's veto) makes it more onerous and risky for a tenant to appeal, Tooman said.
"They have essentially allowed courts to award legal fees and attorneys fees to landlords," he explained. "In certain circumstances, when the the tenant loses their appeal, and if the court decides that it was frivolous or meritless appeal, then then the landlord can get all of their attorney's fees and court costs awarded. So if someone is already on the fence about filing an appeal, and they hear about that, that they might have a judgment sitting on their head for a bunch of attorney's fees and court costs, they're not going to file it."
That, he said, is likely why appeals have dropped, even as evictions have increased.
The recent increase in evictions comes as funding for free civil court legal help has been paused by the state legislature, exacerbating the already substantial power imbalance between tenant and landlord in North Carolina.
Mary is one of the lucky ones. She was able to move into a government-subsidized unit at Starway, soon after it opened, and two years after she became homeless because of her eviction.
But there are now hundreds of thousands of tenants getting this black mark on their record annually in North Carolina, and many of them will face her same circumstances. Biagini wants to see the humanity of those tenants recognized, by prospective landlords and the general public alike. "I just don't think you understand the way that this all plays out for children whose homes are not the same every single night," she said. "They go from a different place to a different place to a different place. And I think it's important that we recognize the humanity in those children and those families and provide them a place."
