Economic development ranking system ‘cuts both ways’ The 2021 County Development Tiers map shows persistent poverty—and prosperity—in the usual regions. NCDOC map. Each year around this time, North Carolina takes a look at the economic prosperity, or lack thereof, in every one of its 100 counties. That analysis reveals the haves and the have nots, but it’s about much more than just bragging rights. Millions of dollars of state funding tied to economic prosperity, or more appropriately, economic distress, is disbursed in a highly competitive arena where winners and losers are decided as grant applications are approved or rejected and projects progress or wither on the vine.