North Carolina map

Where North Carolina is

North Carolina is the long east–west state on the South Atlantic coast between Virginia and South Carolina. It measures about 500 miles from the Outer Banks to the Tennessee line and about 150 miles north to south at its widest. Clockwise from the north: Virginia along a surveyed line near 36°30'N, the Atlantic Ocean along the barrier islands, South Carolina along an irregular surveyed line to the south, Georgia along the 35th parallel in the far southwest, and Tennessee along the crest of the Blue Ridge and Great Smoky Mountains to the west. It is the ninth most populous state and 28th by area.

Major cities

The state's population clusters along the Interstate 85 and I-40 corridor through the Piedmont: Charlotte, the Triad (Greensboro, Winston-Salem, High Point) and the Triangle (Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill). Wilmington is the only large coastal city.

Geography

• Highest point — Mount Mitchell, 6,684 ft, in the Black Mountains north of Asheville, the highest summit in the Appalachians and in the eastern US.
• Three provinces — the Mountains in the west (Blue Ridge, Great Smokies), the rolling Piedmont in the middle, and the flat Coastal Plain covering the eastern 45 percent.
• Rivers — the Cape Fear (the only major river that reaches the Atlantic within the state), the Neuse and Tar–Pamlico flowing to Pamlico Sound, the Roanoke, the Yadkin–Pee Dee and Catawba flowing into South Carolina, and the French Broad flowing west to Tennessee.
• Sounds and banks — the Outer Banks barrier islands with Cape Hatteras, Cape Lookout and Cape Fear enclose Pamlico and Albemarle sounds, the largest lagoon system on the east coast. About 300 miles of ocean coastline. See the coastlines map.
• Lakes — Lake Mattamuskeet on the coastal plain is the largest natural lake; Lake Norman near Charlotte is the largest reservoir.

Borders

The Virginia border was surveyed in 1728 by a party that included William Byrd II and follows about 36°30'N. The Tennessee border follows the Appalachian crest as set in 1789 when North Carolina ceded its western lands. The South Carolina border is the most irregular: a diagonal line from the coast northwest, then a jog along the 35th parallel and the old Catawba Indian boundary; a 1990s resurvey moved the recognized line by up to 150 ft in places. The Georgia border was meant to follow the 35th parallel but was surveyed a little south of it in 1819.

Regions of North Carolina

Western North Carolina (Asheville, the High Country around Boone, the Smokies), the Piedmont (Charlotte metro, the Triad, the Triangle), the Sandhills around Pinehurst and Fayetteville, the Inner Coastal Plain (Greenville, Rocky Mount, Goldsboro) and the Coast, which is divided into the Outer Banks, the Crystal Coast around Morehead City and the Cape Fear region around Wilmington.

Related maps

• North Carolina county map — all 100 counties with seats.
• Blank North Carolina map — outline for printing.
• Printable North Carolina map.
• Raleigh — a planned capital laid out in 1792.
• Charlotte — the largest city.
• Neighbors: Virginia, South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee.
• South, South Atlantic division, Southeast, Eastern Time Zone.
• Geography: Appalachian Mountains, state high points, coastlines.