Shelby is a medium-sized city located in the state of North Carolina. With a population of 22,010 people and 12 associated neighborhoods, Shelby is the 45th largest community in North Carolina.Unlike some cities where white-collar or blue-collar occupations dominate the local economy, Shelby is neither predominantly one nor the other. Instead, it has a mixed workforce of both white- and blue-collar jobs. Overall, Shelby is a city of sales and office workers, professionals, and service providers. There are especially a lot of people living in Shelby who work in office and administrative support (11.70%), management occupations (10.32%), and sales jobs (10.12%). Telecommuters are a relatively large percentage of the workforce: 9.71% 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. Shelby is a small city, and as such doesn't have a public transit system that people use to get to and from their jobs every day.The overall education level of Shelby is somewhat higher than in the average US city of 21.84%: 26.55% of adults 25 and older in the city have at least a bachelor's degree. The per capita income in Shelby in 2022 was $30,663, which is middle income relative to North Carolina, and lower middle income relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $122,652 for a family of four. However, Shelby contains both very wealthy and poor people as well. Shelby is an extremely ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Shelby home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Shelby residents report their race to be White, followed by Black or African-American. Important ancestries of people in Shelby include English, German, Irish, French, and Italian. The most common language spoken in Shelby is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and Italian.
