North Carolina Clean Energy Jobs: 103,154 Workers (2024)
North Carolina supports 103,154 clean-energy workers across 8 sectors tracked by the USEER.
1. Employment Landscape — by sector
| Sector | Jobs (2024) | National rank |
|---|---|---|
| Energy Efficiency | 83,490 | #7 |
| Solar | 10,224 | #7 |
| Electric Vehicles | 2,747 | #14 |
| Storage & Grid | 2,020 | #15 |
| Wind | 1,731 | #20 |
| Nuclear | 1,565 | #15 |
| Hydropower | 806 | #16 |
| Clean Fuels | 571 | #9 |
3. Hiring Difficulty & Industry Mix
Employer-reported hiring difficulty and the NAICS industry split for clean-energy jobs in North Carolina.
3.1 Hiring difficulty breakdown
Did not hire
37.6%
Somewhat difficult hiring
36.2%
Very difficult hiring
18.8%
Not at all difficult hiring
7.4%
3.2 Jobs by NAICS industry group
| Industry (NAICS group) | Jobs (2024) |
|---|---|
| Construction | 54,511 |
| Professional Services | 47,657 |
| Manufacturing | 44,541 |
| Other Services | 39,092 |
| Trade | 23,647 |
| Utilities | 14,591 |
| Pipeline Transport & Commodity Flows | 2,791 |
| Agriculture and Forestry | 1,119 |
| Mining and Extraction | 301 |
4. Full USEER Metrics for North Carolina
Every line-item reported in the public 2025 USEER workbook for North Carolina: fuels, electricity generation, transmission/distribution/storage, efficiency, vehicles, and NAICS industry groups.
Fuels
| Sub-category | Jobs (2024) |
|---|---|
| Fuels total | 8,996 |
| Oil (petroleum and other fossil fuels) | 4,346 |
| Woody biomass | 1,054 |
| Other ethanol and non-woody biomass | 996 |
| Natural gas fuels | 752 |
| Other fuels | 588 |
| Other biofuels | 571 |
| Corn ethanol | 401 |
| Nuclear fuels | 256 |
| Coal fuels | 32 |
Electric Power Generation
| Sub-category | Jobs (2024) |
|---|---|
| Electric power generation total | 22,582 |
| Solar | 10,224 |
| Natural gas electricity | 3,021 |
| Wind | 1,731 |
| Bioenergy/Combined heat and power | 1,603 |
| Nuclear electricity | 1,565 |
| Coal electricity | 1,522 |
| Other electricity | 1,087 |
| Traditional hydropower | 806 |
| Oil and other fossil fuel electricity | 387 |
| Low impact hydropower, marine, and hydrokinetics | 386 |
| Geothermal electricity | 249 |
Transmission, Distribution & Storage
| Sub-category | Jobs (2024) |
|---|---|
| Transmission, distribution, and storage total | 35,144 |
| Traditional transmission and distribution | 27,869 |
| Other (including commodity flows) | 2,690 |
| Storage | 2,020 |
| Other grid modernization | 937 |
| Smart grid | 889 |
| Micro grid | 739 |
Energy Efficiency
| Sub-category | Jobs (2024) |
|---|---|
| Energy efficiency total | 83,490 |
| Certified and efficient lighting | 35,560 |
| Traditional HVAC with an efficiency component | 20,813 |
| High efficiency HVAC and renewable heating and cooling | 13,516 |
| Advanced materials | 7,608 |
| Other | 5,994 |
Motor Vehicles
| Sub-category | Jobs (2024) |
|---|---|
| Motor vehicle total | 78,035 |
| Gasoline and diesel vehicles | 62,130 |
| Other vehicles | 4,307 |
| Hybrid electric vehicles | 4,199 |
| Battery electric vehicles | 2,747 |
| Motor vehicle commodity flows | 1,893 |
| Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles | 1,873 |
| Hydrogen/fuel cell vehicles | 468 |
| Natural gas vehicles | 418 |
By NAICS Industry
| Sub-category | Jobs (2024) |
|---|---|
| Construction | 54,511 |
| Professional Services | 47,657 |
| Manufacturing | 44,541 |
| Other Services | 39,092 |
| Trade | 23,647 |
| Utilities | 14,591 |
| Pipeline Transport & Commodity Flows | 2,791 |
| Agriculture and Forestry | 1,119 |
| Mining and Extraction | 301 |