How much is the average tax refund in NC? Numbers for Raleigh, Charlotte, Durham

Tax Day is on Tuesday, April 15, but those who opted to file their taxes early are already getting their refunds.

Upgraded Points, a site that provides information on credit cards, reward programs and travel information, found that the average tax refund in North Carolina this year was $3,077 — the 26th-highest of any state.

The site used two data sources from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to find the average tax refund by state, county and income level: Filing Season Statistics and the Individual Income Tax Return (Form 1040).

Here’s how much the average tax refund was this year for North Carolina’s largest metro areas.

Note: All North Carolina taxpayers have until Thursday, May 1 to file and pay their federal and state taxes this year, though people who live in non-disaster counties will begin to accrue interest on April 15, The News & Observer previously reported.

Average tax refund for Raleigh, Charlotte, Durham

All but three of North Carolina’s largest metro areas had average tax refunds higher than the state average, according to Upgraded Points.

Here is the average tax refund for the state’s 10 largest counties by population:

1. Wake: $3,311

2. Mecklenburg: $3,406

3. Guilford: $3,157

4. Forsyth: $3,130

5. Cumberland: $3,209

6. Durham: $3,080

7. Buncombe: $2,971

8. Union: $3,445

9. Johnston: $2,852

10. Cabarrus: $2,955

Does income factor into how much your tax refund will be?

Yes. According to data from Upgraded Points, those with higher incomes are likely to receive higher refunds.

For example, the average refund for those in Mecklenburg County earning less than $50,000 per year was $2,466, but those who earned more than $200,000 had an average tax refund of $13,791.

However, the data also show that those with higher incomes are less likely to get refunds. Data show that 77.4% of people who earned less than $50,000 got refunds this year, while only 35% of those who earned more than $200,000 got refunds.

Is a high tax refund a good thing?

Not necessarily. Having extra money is hardly ever a bad thing, but a large refund means too much money was withheld from your paychecks throughout the year, “essentially providing the government with an interest-free loan,” Upgraded Points says.

To optimize your finances, Upgraded Points recommends adjusting your tax withholdings to better match your actual tax liability. You can use the IRS Tax Withholding Estimator Tool to estimate the federal income tax you want your employer to withhold from your paycheck.

How can I check the status of my tax refund?

Those who file online can check the status of their returns after 24 hours have passed from the file date. This can be done on the IRS2Go app or through the “Where’s My Refund?” tool on the IRS website. You can also check on the status of your state refund by going to The North Carolina Department of Revenue site (ncdor.gov) and clicking “Where’s My Refund?”

If it has been at least four weeks since you filed a paper return, you can check on the status of your refund by calling the IRS TeleTax System at 1-800-829-4477. You will be asked to provide the first Social Security number shown on the return, your filing status and the amount of the refund. If the IRS has processed your return, the system will tell you the date your refund will be sent.

Why could your tax refund be delayed?

President Trump signed an executive order in January that enacted a hiring freeze for federal employees, including those in the IRS, The Charlotte Observer reported. That means the IRS could be short-staffed during filing season. The agency expects more than 140 million individual tax returns to be filed over the next few months.

Trump signed another executive order that forced all federal employees who work remotely to return the office. This move could result in a wave of early retirements, Nina Olson, executive director of the Center for Taxpayer Rights, told the Journal of Accountancy.

“Many of the IRS employees who are retirement age and currently teleworking may just decide to retire and lock in their retirement benefits,” Olson said.

Some tax returns can take longer to process for many reasons, the IRS says, including when a return:

• Is sent by mail

• Contains errors or is incomplete

• Is affected by identity theft or fraud

• Was referred to the IRS by the bank due to suspicious activity

• Includes a claim filed for an Earned Income Tax Credit or an Additional Child Tax Credit

• Includes a Form 8379, Injured Spouse Allocation, which could take up to 14 weeks to process

• Needs further review in general

If more information is needed to process returns, the IRS will contact those taxpayers by mail.

This story was originally published April 9, 2025 at 2:27 PM with the headline "How much is the average tax refund in NC? Numbers for Raleigh, Charlotte, Durham."

Evan Moore

The Charlotte Observer

Evan Moore is a service journalism reporter for the Charlotte Observer. He grew up in Denver, North Carolina, where he previously worked as a reporter for the Denver Citizen, and is a UNC Charlotte graduate.