# Surry County, North Carolina: Power, Data Centers and the Local Economy Home to Mount Airy, Elkin and Dobson Surry County is one of the places pushing back on the data center build-out. Surry County is home to Mount Airy, Elkin, Dobson and Pilot Mountain. The Moratorium Tracker holds 1 local measure here (1 in force); the latest is “Two-year data center moratorium”. 86 MW of that came online in 2019 or later, mostly solar. Its power plants have 92 MW of capacity, 98% of it solar. Duke Energy Carolinas, LLC is the largest utility serving Surry County, one of 2 with territory here. Its residential customers paid an average 13.94¢/kWh in 2024, above the 13.11¢ median for North Carolina utilities. 92 MW of operating power plants, mostly solar -0.8% total jobs since 2019, now 28,718 13.94¢ per kWh for Duke Energy Carolinas, LLC residential customers, 2024 ## Cities and towns in Surry County Surry County is home to Mount Airy, Elkin, Dobson and Pilot Mountain. Mount Airy10,682 residents Elkin4,060 residents Dobson1,474 residents Pilot Mountain1,437 residents Unincorporated communities (governed by the county): Flat Rock, Lowgap, Toast, White Plains. Residents are 2025 Census estimates for the part of each city, town or township inside this county. Census publishes no annual estimate for unincorporated communities. ## What changed in Surry County | Measure | Then | Now | Change | Rank in North Carolina | |---|---|---|---|---| | Population (2020 → 2025) | 71,386 | 72,287 | ▲ 1.3% | 38th of 100 by size | | Total jobs (2019 → 2025) | 28,963 | 28,718 | ▼ 0.8% | 65th of 100 by growth | | Average annual pay (2019 → 2025) | $37,711 | $51,491 | ▲ 36.5% | — | | Unemployment rate (2019 → August 2026) | 3.7% | 3.3% | ▼ 0.4pts | — | | Generating capacity added since 2019 | — | 86 MW | | — | | Generating capacity retired since 2019 | — | 0 MW | | — | Unemployment was 3.3% in August 2026, against 3.7% in 2019. Employers here counted 28,718 jobs in 2025, down 0.8% from 2019. 72,287 people live here, up 1.3% since 2020. ## Who powers Surry County ### Utilities with service territory in Surry County | Utility | Ownership | Service | Residential customers (systemwide) | Residential price, 2024 | Commercial share of sales | |---|---|---|---|---|---| | Duke Energy Carolinas, LLC | Investor Owned | Bundled | 1,919,372 | 13.94¢ | 42% | | Surry-Yadkin Elec Member Corp | Cooperative | Bundled | 28,080 | 16.06¢ | 6% | Customer counts, prices and sales shares cover each utility's whole system in the state, not only this county. Commercial sales include data centers. ### Operating power plants | Technology | Capacity | Share | |---|---|---| | Solar | 90 MW | 98% | | Other technologies | 2 MW | 2% | | Largest plants | Owner | Technology | MW | Since | |---|---|---|---|---| | Partin Solar | Partin Solar, LLC | Solar | 50 MW | 2023 | | Stony Knoll Solar, LLC | Deriva Energy | Solar | 23 MW | 2022 | | 1001 Ebenezer Church Solar | 1001 Ebenezer Church Solar, LLC | Solar | 5 MW | 2021 | | 1008 Matthews Solar | 1008 Matthews Solar, LLC | Solar | 5 MW | 2021 | | Ararat Rock Solar, LLC | Oppidum Renewables USA, LLC | Solar | 4 MW | 2012 | | Hayes Solar, LLC | Hayes Solar, LLC | Solar | 3 MW | 2020 | ## The Surry County labor market | Industry (2025) | Jobs | Average pay | Concentration vs U.S. | |---|---|---|---| | All industries | 28,718 | $51,491 | 1.00 | Concentration is the BLS location quotient: 1.0 means the industry holds the same share of local jobs as it does nationally. Industry rows count private employers; cells BLS suppresses are left out. ## Data centers and local rules in Surry County ### Local measures | Measure | Status | Date | |---|---|---| | Two-year data center moratorium | In force | 2026-07 | ## Surry County and its neighbors Of the 8 counties that border Surry County, Stokes County carries the most build-out activity: data centers, planned generation and operating plants combined. [[[[[[[[ | County | Population | Jobs since 2019 | Operating MW | Planned MW | Data centers | Local measures | |---|---|---|---|---|---|---| | Surry County | 72,287 | ▼ 0.8% | 92 MW | — | — | 1 | | Alleghany County](https://savrn.com/power-supply-chain-map/north-carolina/alleghany-county) | 11,479 | ▲ 4.7% | — | — | — | — | | Carroll County](https://savrn.com/power-supply-chain-map/virginia/carroll-county) VA | 29,299 | ▼ 6.7% | 50 MW | — | — | — | | Forsyth County](https://savrn.com/power-supply-chain-map/north-carolina/forsyth-county) | 401,718 | ▼ 0.4% | 21 MW | — | 2 | 2 | | Grayson County](https://savrn.com/power-supply-chain-map/virginia/grayson-county) VA | 15,230 | ▲ 1.2% | 5 MW | — | — | — | | Patrick County](https://savrn.com/power-supply-chain-map/virginia/patrick-county) VA | 17,424 | ▼ 8.7% | 12 MW | — | 1 | — | | Stokes County](https://savrn.com/power-supply-chain-map/north-carolina/stokes-county) | 46,126 | ▼ 1.0% | 2,555 MW | 34 MW | — | 1 | | Wilkes County](https://savrn.com/power-supply-chain-map/north-carolina/wilkes-county) | 66,233 | ▼ 10.8% | — | — | — | — | | Yadkin County](https://savrn.com/power-supply-chain-map/north-carolina/yadkin-county) | 38,325 | ▼ 0.7% | 103 MW | — | — | 1 | ## More of North Carolina [All North Carolina countiesThe state power page and county mapOpen →](https://savrn.com/power-supply-chain-map/north-carolina)[Forsyth County401,718 peopleOpen →](https://savrn.com/power-supply-chain-map/north-carolina/forsyth-county)[Wilkes County66,233 peopleOpen →](https://savrn.com/power-supply-chain-map/north-carolina/wilkes-county)[Stokes County46,126 peopleOpen →](https://savrn.com/power-supply-chain-map/north-carolina/stokes-county)[Yadkin County38,325 peopleOpen →](https://savrn.com/power-supply-chain-map/north-carolina/yadkin-county)[Alleghany County11,479 peopleOpen →](https://savrn.com/power-supply-chain-map/north-carolina/alleghany-county) ## Surry County, answered from the record ### Who provides electricity in Surry County, North Carolina? 2 utilities have service territory in Surry County in the EIA-861 2024 report: Duke Energy Carolinas, LLC, Surry-Yadkin Elec Member Corp. The largest, Duke Energy Carolinas, LLC, charged residential customers 13.94¢/kWh on average in 2024. ### What county is Mount Airy, NC in? Mount Airy is in Surry County, North Carolina. About 10,682 people live there (2025 Census estimate). ### What power plants are in Surry County? 8 operating plants with 92 MW of capacity. The largest is Partin Solar (50 MW, solar). ### Are there data centers in Surry County? The SAVRN Data Center Map has no data center in Surry County. The nearest activity on record is next door in Forsyth County. ### Is Surry County adding jobs? Employers counted 28,718 jobs in 2025 against 28,963 in 2019 (-0.8%, BLS QCEW). ### Does Surry County have a data center moratorium? The SAVRN Moratorium Tracker holds 1 local measure for Surry County, 1 in force. --- Canonical: https://savrn.com/power-supply-chain-map/north-carolina/surry-county Updated: 2026-10-08. Refreshed weekly by SAVRN from EIA, BLS, BEA, Census and the SAVRN trackers. License: CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).