Map of North Carolina (NC)

Blue Ridge Mountains from Courthouse Valley Overlook

Sunrise over the Blue Ridge Mountains. View from the Courthouse Valley Overlook on the Blue Ridge Parkway in western North Carolina.
Image: Ken Lane

North Carolina State Flag

About North Carolina

Location map of North Carolina state USA

Where in the United States is North Carolina? Location map of the State of North Carolina in the US.

The US state of North Carolina is located in the center of the eastern United States and has a coastline on the Atlantic Ocean to the east.

The state borders Virginia in the north, South Carolina in the south, Georgia in southwest and Tennessee in the west. The state's nickname is "Tar Heel State."

Short History
First settled by the English in the late 1600s. In 1584 Queen Elizabeth I issued a charter to Sir Walter Raleigh to establish a colony in America.

The region of what is now North Carolina was part of the original territory of the United States.

Both North Carolina and South Carolina were included in the charter that established Carolina in 1663. The two areas separated in 1712, a separation that was finalized when the Carolina Colony was dissolved in 1729. On 21 November 1789, North Carolina ratified the Constitution; it was the 12th of the original 13 states to join the Union.

North Carolina State Map

General Map of North Carolina, United States.

The detailed map shows the US state of North Carolina with boundaries, the location of the state capital Raleigh, major cities and populated places, rivers and lakes, interstate highways, principal highways, and railroads.

You are free to use this map for educational purposes (fair use); please refer to the Nations Online Project.

More about North Carolina

Geography

Topographic Regions Map of North Carolina. (click map to enlarge)

Area
With an area of 139,390 km² (53,819 sq mi), ^[1] the state is about twice the size of Ireland. Compared with other US states, North Carolina would fit into Texas five times.

North Carolina is divided into 100 counties.

Climate
Most of the state features a humid subtropical climate.

North Carolina's Landscape
The geography of North Carolina consists of four different regions (from east to west)

Abandoned hunting lodge near Bodie Island of the Outer Banks, North Carolina

Roanoke Sound; an abandoned hunting lodge near Bodie Island of the Outer Banks.
Image: Eric Wettstein

The sandy islands of the Outer Banks, a 300 km long string of barrier islands and spits off the coast of North Carolina, separating the Atlantic Ocean from the brackish inlets and sounds of the coastal region.

North Carolina has its share of the Atlantic Coastal Plain; the Tidewater region covers roughly 40% of the state's area.

The Piedmont Plateau, a hilly region between the Atlantic Coastal Plain and the Appalachian Mountains, is marked by the escarpment of the Atlantic Seaboard fall line in the east, which separates the Coastal Plains from the Piedmont.

To the west of the Piedmont rise the densely forested mountain chains of the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Great Smoky Mountains, both are subranges of the larger Appalachians.

The highest elevation in the state is Mount Mitchell at 2,037 m (6,684 ft). The highest mountain in the Eastern United States is located in the Black Mountains, a subrange of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

World Heritage Site

Forest canopy, Newfound Gap mountain pass in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park

The Great Smoky Mountains in Haywood County; view from Mt Cammerer. The Great Smoky Mountains National Park is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Image: Michael Hicks

North Carolina shares one UNESCO World Heritage Site with Tennessee.

The Great Smoky Mountains National Park

is a major North American refuge of temperate zone flora and fauna that survived the Pleistocene glaciations.

The park covers an area of over more than 200,000 ha, centered on the ridgeline of the Great Smoky Mountains, a subrange of the Appalachian mountain chain.

The park houses the largest remains of an Arctic-Tertiary Geoflora that once covered the entire Northern Hemisphere, and it gives a sense of what the late Pleistocene (Ice Age) flora looked like before recent human impacts.

The main park entrance in North Carolina is at Cherokee, and in Tennessee at Gatlinburg.

Population

View of the City of the city of Asheville in North Carolina

City of Asheville in North Carolina. Asheville is home to the United States National Climatic Data Center (NCDC), the world's largest active archive of weather data.
Image: Ken Lane

North Carolina is one of the ten most populous states in the country. It has a population of 10.5 million people (est. in 2019); ^[2] the capital is Raleigh, the largest city is Charlotte, the largest urban area in the state is Charlotte metropolitan area (Metrolina).

Race and Ethnic Groups
North Carolina's population is composed of White 62.8%, African American 22.2, Hispanic or Latino 9.6%, Asian 3.2%, and Native Americans 1.6%. ^[3]

By far the largest airport in the state is Charlotte/Douglas International Airport (IATA code: CLT).

Cities and Towns in North Carolina

The map shows the location of following cities and towns in North Carolina.

Largest cities in North Carolina with a population of more than 100,000.

Rendered image of North Carolina's State Capitol in Raleigh. The state is part of the Bible Belt, this can be seen by the fact that there is a church on each corner of Capitol Square.
Image: Google

Charlotte (872,000), Raleigh (469,000), Greensboro (295,000), Durham (274,000), Winston-Salem (246,000), Fayetteville (209,000), Cary (168,000), Wilmington (122,000), High Point (112,000)
Figures from 2018

Other cities and towns in North Carolina:
Albemarle, Asheboro, Asheville, Atlantic, Boone, Burlington, Chapel Hill, Clinton, Concord, Dunn, Edenton, Elizabeth City, Forest City, Franklin, Gastonia, Goldsboro, Greenville, Henderson, Hendersonville, Hickory, Jacksonville, Kannapolis, Kinston, Laurinburg, Lenoir, Lexington, Lumberton, Manteo, Monroe, Morehead City, Mount Airy, Murphy, Nags Head, New Bern, Oxford, Reidsville, Roanoke Rapids, Rockingham, Rocky Mount, Roxboro, Salisbury, Sanford, Shelby, Smithfield, Southern Pines, Statesville, Tarboro, Washington, Waynesville, Whiteville, Williamston, and Wilson.

Downtown Charlotte, the largest city in North Carolina. The Charlotte metropolitan area, also known as Metrolina, is an urban area in North and South Carolina.
Image: Harshil Shah

More about North Carolina and the US

Cities -- Information about, and searchable maps of:

The states' capital Raleigh

City of Charlotte

U.S. States: