This article explores the relationship between local economic development and local government fiscal health, emphasizing the critical role of fiscal policy in determining long-term success. Using data from 2017 to 2022 for all counties in North Carolina, we apply Granger causality analysis to examine the relationship between a county’s economic growth and its fiscal condition. Our findings show that fiscal health significantly influences local economic growth, indicating a unidirectional causality where better fiscal health can facilitate economic development. These observations add much-needed empirical evidence to the continuing literature on the importance of economic growth and the related fiscal policy choices.