Population in North Carolina by County

Total population.

U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 5-year 2020-2024 · Updated November 2026

North Carolina

10,730,404

Counties

100

Highest

Wake

1,178,653

Lowest

Tyrrell

3,423

All North Carolina counties, ranked

# Counties Population
1 Wake 1,178,653
2 Mecklenburg 1,154,681
3 Guilford 547,940
4 Forsyth 389,977
5 Cumberland 338,545
6 Durham 332,353
7 Buncombe 274,360
8 Union 250,958
9 Cabarrus 236,133
10 New Hanover 235,229
11 Gaston 234,881
12 Johnston 234,263
13 Onslow 207,906
14 Iredell 196,544
15 Pitt 177,193
16 Alamance 176,893
17 Davidson 172,954
18 Catawba 163,573
19 Brunswick 152,568
20 Rowan 149,875
21 Orange 149,678
22 Randolph 146,348
23 Harnett 139,150
24 Wayne 118,652
25 Henderson 118,484
26 Robeson 116,902
27 Moore 104,876
28 Craven 102,612
29 Cleveland 100,991
30 Nash 96,216
31 Lincoln 92,716
32 Rockingham 92,131
33 Burke 87,795
34 Caldwell 80,536
35 Chatham 80,151
36 Wilson 79,290
37 Franklin 74,386
38 Surry 71,425
39 Carteret 69,148
40 Wilkes 65,935
41 Lee 65,816
42 Pender 65,550
43 Rutherford 64,930
44 Stanly 64,651
45 Haywood 62,662
46 Granville 60,877
47 Sampson 59,470
48 Watauga 55,123
49 Lenoir 54,919
50 Hoke 53,835
51 Columbus 50,140
52 Duplin 49,335
53 Edgecombe 48,736
54 Halifax 47,675
55 Stokes 45,139
56 McDowell 44,817
57 Beaufort 44,499
58 Davie 44,122
59 Jackson 43,771
60 Richmond 42,344
61 Vance 42,322
62 Pasquotank 40,834
63 Person 39,542
64 Macon 37,941
65 Dare 37,875
66 Yadkin 37,574
67 Alexander 36,412
68 Transylvania 33,691
69 Scotland 33,590
70 Currituck 30,601
71 Bladen 29,566
72 Cherokee 29,562
73 Ashe 26,950
74 Montgomery 26,007
75 Caswell 22,404
76 Anson 22,289
77 Madison 21,867
78 Martin 21,644
79 Greene 20,486
80 Hertford 19,908
81 Polk 19,891
82 Yancey 18,797
83 Warren 18,795
84 Avery 17,680
85 Bertie 17,170
86 Northampton 16,931
87 Mitchell 14,992
88 Swain 14,013
89 Chowan 13,836
90 Perquimans 13,244
91 Pamlico 12,390
92 Clay 11,610
93 Alleghany 11,174
94 Camden 10,927
95 Washington 10,812
96 Gates 10,376
97 Jones 9,302
98 Graham 8,072
99 Hyde 4,592
100 Tyrrell 3,423

About this dataset

Total population. Source: ACS 5-year 2020-2024 Data Profile, variable DP05_0001E. Values in people.

Source
U.S. Census Bureau
Citation
U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates Data Profiles (2020-2024), DP05_0001E
Vintage
ACS 5-year 2020-2024
License
Public domain (U.S. Census Bureau)
Unit
people
Available at
State · County · ZIP code
Territory roll-up
Summed across each territory
Last loaded
November 2026

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US Population nationwide