Most Densely Populated Cities in North Carolina: Ranked by People per Square Mile
The densest city in North Carolina in our data is Morrisville, NC, with about 3,307 people per square mile, followed by Carrboro, NC (3,271) and Raleigh, NC (3,248). This list ranks the top 50 places among the 162 North Carolina communities with at least 5,000 residents.
What are the top 50 in North Carolina?
| # | City | County | Per sq mi | Population |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Morrisville, NC | Wake County | 3,307 | 28,846 |
| 2 | Carrboro, NC | Orange County | 3,271 | 21,190 |
| 3 | Raleigh, NC | Wake County | 3,248 | 1,038,738 |
| 4 | Boone, NC | Watauga County | 3,116 | 26,146 |
| 5 | Elon, NC | Alamance County | 3,077 | 12,232 |
| 6 | Chapel Hill, NC | Orange County | 2,973 | 64,051 |
| 7 | Cary, NC | Wake County | 2,898 | 170,282 |
| 8 | Charlotte, NC | Mecklenburg County | 2,883 | 1,512,923 |
| 9 | Apex, NC | Wake County | 2,849 | 59,300 |
| 10 | Silver Lake, NC | New Hanover County | 2,624 | 6,476 |
| 11 | Greenville, NC | Pitt County | 2,621 | 130,118 |
| 12 | Carolina Beach, NC | New Hanover County | 2,608 | 6,399 |
| 13 | Wake Forest, NC | Wake County | 2,587 | 45,629 |
| 14 | Durham, NC | Durham County | 2,484 | 424,700 |
| 15 | Wilmington, NC | New Hanover County | 2,406 | 255,616 |
| 16 | Knightdale, NC | Wake County | 2,391 | 17,843 |
| 17 | Cornelius, NC | Mecklenburg County | 2,349 | 30,257 |
| 18 | Greensboro, NC | Guilford County | 2,297 | 343,090 |
| 19 | Holly Springs, NC | Wake County | 2,217 | 37,812 |
| 20 | Davidson, NC | Mecklenburg County | 2,186 | 13,054 |
| 21 | Winterville, NC | Pitt County | 2,145 | 9,931 |
| 22 | Hope Mills, NC | Cumberland County | 2,139 | 15,849 |
| 23 | Asheville, NC | Buncombe County | 2,036 | 312,507 |
| 24 | Gibsonville, NC | Guilford County | 2,031 | 7,339 |
| 25 | High Point, NC | Guilford County | 2,012 | 179,913 |
| 26 | Fuquay-Varina, NC | Wake County | 1,994 | 30,324 |
| 27 | Garner, NC | Wake County | 1,974 | 31,407 |
| 28 | Hendersonville, NC | Henderson County | 1,945 | 14,157 |
| 29 | Stallings, NC | Union County | 1,935 | 16,145 |
| 30 | Matthews, NC | Mecklenburg County | 1,935 | 33,138 |
| 31 | Murraysville, NC | New Hanover County | 1,919 | 16,542 |
| 32 | Kings Grant, NC | New Hanover County | 1,904 | 8,647 |
| 33 | Winston-Salem, NC | Forsyth County | 1,867 | 422,269 |
| 34 | Ogden, NC | New Hanover County | 1,852 | 8,408 |
| 35 | Burlington, NC | Alamance County | 1,831 | 131,043 |
| 36 | Indian Trail, NC | Union County | 1,831 | 40,252 |
| 37 | Cullowhee, NC | Jackson County | 1,769 | 6,377 |
| 38 | Clemmons, NC | Forsyth County | 1,756 | 20,867 |
| 39 | Angier, NC | Harnett County | 1,751 | 5,415 |
| 40 | Henderson, NC | Vance County | 1,751 | 20,238 |
| 41 | Rolesville, NC | Wake County | 1,743 | 8,501 |
| 42 | Mebane, NC | Alamance County | 1,668 | 16,262 |
| 43 | Mount Olive, NC | Wayne County | 1,665 | 5,183 |
| 44 | Clayton, NC | Johnston County | 1,642 | 24,887 |
| 45 | Myrtle Grove, NC | New Hanover County | 1,603 | 10,753 |
| 46 | Graham, NC | Alamance County | 1,601 | 15,646 |
| 47 | Mooresville, NC | Iredell County | 1,588 | 39,132 |
| 48 | Wilson, NC | Wilson County | 1,588 | 49,483 |
| 49 | Thomasville, NC | Davidson County | 1,588 | 26,649 |
| 50 | Kannapolis, NC | Cabarrus County | 1,559 | 50,841 |
How dense are the cities in North Carolina?
The densest place is about 3 times as dense as the median place in the state, which has about 1,283 people per square mile. At the other end, Unionville, NC has about 246. Under our scale, 0 places are an urban core (over 5,000 per square mile), 117 are suburban, and the rest are small towns or rural. Wake County contributes 10 of the top 50.
Which counties do the top 50 belong to?
The 50 places on this list are spread across 23 counties of North Carolina. Wake County has 10 (Morrisville, Raleigh, Cary, Apex, Wake Forest, Knightdale, Holly Springs, Fuquay-Varina, G); New Hanover County has 7 (Silver Lake, Carolina Beach, Wilmington, Murraysville, Kings Grant, Ogden, Myrtle Grove); Alamance County has 4 (Elon, Burlington, Mebane, Graham). Counties with several entries are usually centers of a metropolitan area, where one large city is surrounded by many suburbs that each pass the 5,000-resident threshold.
How does North Carolina compare with the rest of the country?
The median North Carolina place with a page has about 15,748 residents, compared with about 13,459 nationwide, so the state's typical community is larger than the national typical place. Morrisville, NC ranks 1668th among all US places by estimated population in our data. The state has 733 communities in total, of which 162 reach 5,000 residents. See the national ranking of the largest cities for comparison.
Quick answers about North Carolina cities
- Which is the densest city in North Carolina? Morrisville (3,307 per square mile).
- How many North Carolina cities have more than 100,000 people? 16 in our data.
- How many have 25,000 to 100,000? 32.
- What is the typical size? About 15,748 residents for a place with a page.
How is this ranking made?
The data comes from the SimpleMaps US Cities Database, which gives each place an estimated population and a density in people per square kilometer. We convert density to people per square mile and rank the places with at least 5,000 residents. Boundaries matter: a city that includes large parks or farmland scores lower on density than a compact city of the same size, and population estimates can include areas that share a city's ZIP codes. Read why population figures differ and how density is calculated before you quote a number.
Where to go next
Rankings use dataset estimates, not official counts.