Cherokee is a town in Swain County, North Carolina

Swain County, North Carolina

Swain County is a county located in the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of 2000, the population was 12,968. Its county seat is Bryson City.Swain County is home of the Nantahala River . The Nantahala is one of the most popular whitewater rafting rivers in the nation...

, USA, within the Qualla Boundary

Qualla Boundary

The Qualla Boundary is the territory where the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians reside in western North Carolina.-Location:...

 land trust. It is located in the Oconaluftee River Valley

Oconaluftee (Great Smoky Mountains)

Oconaluftee is the name of a river valley in the Great Smoky Mountains of North Carolina, located in the Southeastern United States. Formerly the site of a Cherokee village and Appalachian community, the valley's bottomland is now home to the main entrance to the North Carolina section of the...

, near the intersection of U.S. Route 19

U.S. Route 19

U.S. Route 19 is a north–south U.S. Highway. Despite encroaching Interstate Highways, the route has remained a long-haul route, connecting the Gulf of Mexico with Lake Erie....

 and U.S. Route 441

U.S. Route 441

U.S. Route 441 is a spur route of U.S. Route 41. It currently runs for 939 miles from U.S. Route 41 in Miami, Florida to U.S. Route 25W in Lake City, Tennessee. Between its termini, US 441 passes through the states of Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and Tennessee...

 within western North Carolina

Western North Carolina

Western North Carolina is the region of North Carolina which includes the Appalachian Mountains, thus it is often known geographically as the state's Mountain Region. It is sometimes included with upstate South Carolina as the "Western Carolinas", which is also counted as a single media market...

.

Cherokee is the headquarters

Headquarters

Headquarters denotes the location where most, if not all, of the important functions of an organization are coordinated. In the United States, the corporate headquarters represents the entity at the center or the top of a corporation taking full responsibility managing all business activities...

 for the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians

Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians

The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians , is a federally recognized Native American tribe in the United States of America, who are descended from Cherokee who remained in the Eastern United States while others moved, or were forced to relocate, to the west in the 19th century. The history of the...

.
The Harrah's Cherokee Casino

Harrah's Cherokee

Harrah's Cherokee Casino is a casino located on the Qualla Boundary in Cherokee, North Carolina. The casino is owned by the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and operated by Caesars Entertainment Corporation...

, which opened in 1995, dramatically "changed everything from jobs to education to health care" for Cherokee tribe members; as of 2005, nearly four million people a year visited the casino, generating a per capita

Per capita

Per capita is a Latin prepositional phrase: per and capita . The phrase thus means "by heads" or "for each head", i.e. per individual or per person...

 profit of roughly $8,000 annually.

At one time, the area had a number of manufacturing and textile plants, but those have mostly closed or moved overseas by 2005.