While most North Carolinians recognize the important economic contributions the graduates of UNC-Chapel Hill make to the state, a comprehensive analysis of alumni impact had never been done —until now.
The UNC-Chapel Hill Economic Impact Analysis, illustrated with the interactive Tar Heel Footprint Map, for the first time shows the impact of 64,474 Tar Heel alumni from the past two decades who are employed in the state: $30.1 billion in total economic activity in fiscal year 2025.
In this analysis, total economic activity is the total value of all goods and services produced across the supply chain, including business-to-business transactions.
“This was an opportunity to look at real government data that shows exactly who goes where and what they do,” said Harrison Gilbert, UNC Research director of research partnerships and impact. “It’s important for our appropriators and our state leaders to know that UNC is one of the best investments that they can make.”
Here are the key numbers to know:
- $18.34 billion contribution/value added to gross domestic product
- $30.1 billion in total economic activity (gross transactions, not net impact)
- 135,458 total jobs supported
- $1.1 billion in state and local tax revenue
The idea for the analysis was sparked by a conversation Gilbert had with Board of Trustees member Dr. Perrin Jones and Amy McConkey, Carolina’s former state affairs director. They wanted numbers on where Carolina graduates go and what kind of work they do.
To find out, Gilbert and his team matched alumni data with the state Department of Commerce’s Common Follow-Up System, which captures job and pay information for employees covered by unemployment insurance.
For consistency, the analysis used the same job classification codes used by government agencies instead of college degrees because alumni often work in fields outside their majors. The classifications are very specific to avoid overlap. For example, “medicine” covers doctors in private practice while “healthcare” covers hospital employees.
The map also divides the state into the regions used by the Commerce Department instead of by county or city. “We don’t really live just in cities anymore. We truly live in regions. So many people commute that the spending patterns are very regional at this point,” Gilbert said.
After that groundwork was laid, the data was sent to the same team of analysts at Innovate Carolina who produced the FY25 Innovation & Economic Impact Report about Carolina-connected startups. Patrick Kastian, assistant director of the Data Intelligence Hub, again partnered with Cynthia Reifsnider and Brock Pierce at Innovate Carolina, feeding Gilbert’s data into the IMPLAN economic impact model to quantify alumni contributions.
“Overall, we’re seeing a clear positive impact, which in turn speaks to UNC-Chapel Hill as an institution that helped create that,” Kastian said. “A large number of alumni are staying here, and they are having a positive and a measurable impact across the state.”
While the dollar numbers are impressive, the analysis of the jobs alumni hold and where they are working, illustrated by the map, is also an important message about Tar Heel contributions. Click on any region in the state and see just how many businesspeople, doctors, dentists, pharmacists, lawyers, educators, healthcare and social workers and public servants with degrees from Carolina are there.
Local and regional economic development recruiters can also use the data and visualization to show relocating industries the kind of work skills and education their area’s residents have. Overall, the top four job categories show that Tar Heel alumni have highly marketable skills: business/finance, healthcare, education and science/research and development.
“The true impact of the University and its alumni is possibly two to three times more than these numbers, accounting for the fact that we were only able to capture graduates from the past 20 or so years,” Gilbert said. Also not included in the alumni count are self-employed and independent contractors, federal employees or military personnel. Neither are Carolina’s economic contributions through athletics, tourism or the UNC Health System.
“This is going to be a living map, and we hope to continue to be able to incorporate new data into it over time,” Gilbert said. “We fully intend to continue to push the barriers and try to track down new sources so that we can get an even more full picture of our footprint. As it goes along, it can only get better. It will only grow.”
