Jacksonville
The county seat and the region's retail, healthcare, and higher-education hub.
Jacksonville is Onslow County's largest city and the commercial center of the Jacksonville MSA. It carries the county's deepest retail trade, its largest concentration of healthcare and professional employers, and the utility and transportation capacity to support advanced manufacturing, logistics, and office users. A 2026 annexation approved by the North Carolina General Assembly expanded the city to 274.3 square miles — making Jacksonville the second-largest municipality in North Carolina by land area.
Retail and consumer market
Housing market
Workforce and education
Competitive assets
- Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune and MCAS New River anchor a large, continuously refreshed talent pool.
- Coastal Carolina Community College — customized training, Small Business Center, and apprenticeship programs.
- Onslow Memorial Hospital and a dense healthcare cluster.
- US Highway 17 and NC-24 four-lane access; Albert J. Ellis Airport (OAJ) with commercial service.
- Municipal water, sewer, and natural gas with capacity in the city's business parks.
Development opportunities
- Jacksonville Business Park Phases II & III — shovel-ready industrial acreage inside the city.
- Downtown and corridor redevelopment for higher-wage office, professional services, and medical users.
Considering Jacksonville for a project?
We build custom market packets — demographics, labor sheds, wage data, retail leakage, sites, and incentives — for any Onslow County community, at no cost and in confidence.
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts (2025 population estimates; ACS 2020–2024 5-year housing, income, and education; 2022 Economic Census retail sales), U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics QCEW (2024 Onslow County average annual wage), and NC Department of Commerce / NCWorks labor force data. Place-level Census detail is published only for communities of 5,000 or more residents; where it is unavailable, this profile shows 2020 Census counts and county context, and Onslow Coastal Alliance (OCA) can compile a full ACS packet on request.