Under the Canopy
Tree canopy across the 14-county Charlotte region slipped from 44.1% to 43.5% since 2015, and the sharpest losses land on the fast-growing, affluent exurban frontier — inverting the national story that ties low canopy to low income.
Data stories
Numbers only tell part of the story. Let's look closer.
The Carolinas Regional Explorer brings together data about our region — and Data Stories bring the data to life. Explore questions, uncover patterns and put regional change into context through stories from the Charlotte Urban Institute, UNC Charlotte researchers, community partners, regional journalists and others exploring the people and places that make up our region.
Latest story
Losing the Dark
The average Charlotte-region resident's exposure to artificial light at night rose about 6% between 2014 and 2024, two-thirds of tracts got brighter, and the burden falls unevenly across the region's neighborhoods.
Read story→All stories