NC · Wake County · 467,665 (2020) · 41st-largest US city · state capital
Raleigh, North Carolina
Raleigh lies in the eastern Piedmont of North Carolina, at the edge of the Coastal Plain and the eastern corner of the Research Triangle. It is the state capital, the second-largest city in North Carolina and the forty-first in the United States.
- State
- North Carolina
- County
- Wake County (small part in Durham County)
- Population (2020)
- 467,665
- Rank
- 41st in the US
- Coordinates
- 35.78°N, 78.64°W
- Time zone
- Eastern
- Metro area
- about 1.4 million
- State capital
- Yes – capital of North Carolina
Where Raleigh is
Raleigh is at 35.78°N, 78.64°W in Wake County, of which it is the county seat, with a small portion in Durham County. The city covers about 150 square miles of gently rolling Piedmont at roughly 315 feet above sea level, near the fall line where the hard rock of the Piedmont gives way to the sands of the Coastal Plain. It was laid out in 1792 on a site chosen purely to be the capital, within 10 miles of Isaac Hunter's tavern as the legislature required. Durham is 25 miles northwest and Chapel Hill 30 miles west, forming the Research Triangle. Charlotte is 165 miles southwest, the Atlantic coast 130 miles east and Virginia 50 miles north.
Population and rank
The 2020 Census counted 467,665 residents, ranking Raleigh 41st in the US and second in North Carolina after Charlotte. It grew about 16 percent between 2010 and 2020 and has more than doubled since 1990. The Raleigh–Cary metropolitan area (Wake, Johnston and Franklin counties) has about 1.4 million people; the Census Bureau counts Durham–Chapel Hill as a separate metro of about 650,000, so the combined Triangle region holds a little over two million. Wake County passed Mecklenburg in the 2020 count to become the most populous county in North Carolina.
Geography
- Neuse River — flows southeast around the north and east sides of the city from Falls Lake, the city's main reservoir, to Pamlico Sound 200 miles away.
- Crabtree and Walnut creeks — cross the city to the Neuse; both flood in heavy rain.
- Fall line — Raleigh sits on the boundary between the Piedmont and the Atlantic Coastal Plain; the ground is noticeably flatter and sandier east of the city.
- Umstead State Park — 5,600 acres of forest between Raleigh and Durham, one of the largest natural areas inside a US metro.
Nearest large cities
Charlotte is about two and a half hours southwest; Richmond and Norfolk, not on this list, are each under three hours. Distances are approximate road miles from the Capitol.
| City | State | Road distance (mi) | Direction |
|---|---|---|---|
| Charlotte | NC | 165 | SW |
| Washington | DC | 280 | NE |
| Baltimore | MD | 310 | NE |
| Atlanta | GA | 400 | SW |
| Philadelphia | PA | 410 | NE |
Raleigh as state capital
Raleigh has been the capital of North Carolina since 1792, when the state bought 1,000 acres of Wake County farmland and laid out a grid around Union Square; the earlier colonial capital was New Bern. The Greek Revival Capitol on Union Square was completed in 1840 and still houses the governor's office, though the legislature moved to its own building in 1963. Raleigh is a capital that is not its state's largest city: Charlotte is nearly twice as large. See the Raleigh capital page for the planned-city story and the capitol.
Related maps
- North Carolina map — the state with its 100 counties.
- Raleigh, state capital — capital facts and history.
- US cities map.
- Appalachian Mountains and US coastlines maps.
- Nearby: Charlotte, Virginia, Richmond.
- South Atlantic division · Eastern Time Zone.