Mecklenburg County, North Carolina

Mecklenburg County is a county in North Carolina, United States, on the South Carolina line about 150 miles west of Raleigh. It had a population of 1,115,482 at the 2020 census, an estimated 1,233,383 by 2024, and covers 546.09 square miles (1,414.3 km2) centred near 35°15′N 80°50′W.

Charlotte is the county seat and North Carolina’s largest city; its downtown postal code is 28202. The county holds 1 city and 6 incorporated towns, and it runs on Eastern Time. Its FIPS code is 37119.

Towns & Villages in Mecklenburg County

Mecklenburg County has 7 incorporated places on record: Charlotte and six towns that ring it — Cornelius, Davidson and Huntersville along Lake Norman in the north, Matthews and Mint Hill in the east, and Pineville on the South Carolina line. Township is the historic land-record division each place sits in; it carries no modern government function.

Those seven places account for 1,048,960 of the county’s 1,115,482 residents; the remaining roughly 66,500 people live in unincorporated Mecklenburg, in older mill-village and crossroads communities such as Derita, Newell, Paw Creek, Shopton, Shuffletown and Steele Creek that were never separately incorporated and have since been surrounded, or partly annexed, by Charlotte’s expansion. Charlotte itself has hundreds of named residential neighborhoods — Dilworth, Myers Park, NoDa, Plaza Midwood and similar — but the Census Bureau does not treat them as separate places, so they are not listed as towns here. Note also that Midland, Stallings and Weddington, three place names sometimes mistakenly grouped with Mecklenburg, are actually in neighboring Cabarrus and Union counties.

ZIP Codes

• 28202 — Charlotte (uptown/center city, the county’s best-known code)
• 28031 — Cornelius
• 28036 — Davidson (also served by 28035, a Davidson PO box ZIP)
• 28078 — Huntersville (also served by 28070)
• 28105 — Matthews
• 28227 — Mint Hill
• 28134 — Pineville

Charlotte itself is too large for one ZIP code and carries roughly 40 codes across the 282xx range, from 28201 to 28299; 28202 anchors uptown, and codes such as 28210, 28226, 28262 and 28277 cover its outer neighborhoods. The unincorporated communities named above have no ZIP of their own; mail there is delivered under whichever incorporated town or Charlotte ZIP is nearest.

Geography

Mecklenburg County sits in North Carolina’s southern Piedmont, a belt of low rolling hills and clay soil between the mountains and the coastal plain. Of its 546.09 square miles, 523.61 are land and 22.48 are water, about 4 percent. Lake Norman, a reservoir on the Catawba River, forms much of the county’s northwestern edge and gives Cornelius, Davidson and Huntersville their lakefront identity; Mountain Island Lake, a smaller Catawba impoundment, lies further south along the same river.

Iredell County lies to the north, Cabarrus County to the northeast, Union County to the southeast, Gaston County to the west, Lincoln County to the northwest, and the South Carolina counties of York and Lancaster to the south. Iredell County, Cabarrus County, Union County, Gaston County and Lincoln County all border Mecklenburg on the North Carolina side.

Demographics

Mecklenburg County had a population of 1,115,482 at the 2020 census, making it the second most populous county in North Carolina after Wake County and the first in the Carolinas to pass one million residents. The latest estimate puts the county near 1,233,383. Charlotte and Huntersville are by far the two largest communities, together holding more than four-fifths of the county’s population. Density works out to roughly 2,130 people per square mile of land, among the highest of any North Carolina county. Charlotte’s own median household income was $48,670 as of the 2020 census; county-wide income runs higher once the suburban towns are counted in, and North Carolina’s statewide figure is $70,804 (2023 ACS).

Economy & Local Life

Banking and finance anchor the county’s economy: Bank of America is headquartered in uptown Charlotte, Truist Financial runs a large regional headquarters there, and Wells Fargo operates its East Coast hub from the city, together employing tens of thousands of workers. Duke Energy, one of the largest electric utilities in the country, is also headquartered in Charlotte. American Airlines runs its second-largest hub at Charlotte Douglas International Airport, in the county’s southwest. Huntersville is home to Joe Gibbs Racing, one of NASCAR’s top teams, and Matthews hosts the headquarters of grocery chain Harris Teeter and of Family Dollar. Davidson College, a selective liberal arts school founded in 1837, anchors the town of Davidson. The county’s biggest annual event is the CIAA Basketball Tournament, held in Charlotte each February or March and drawing well over 100,000 visitors to uptown for a week of games and related events.

History

North Carolina’s colonial assembly formed Mecklenburg County on 11 December 1762, naming it for Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, who became queen consort of Great Britain in 1761. Charlotte, incorporated in 1768, took the same royal name and later adopted the nickname “Queen City.”

Local tradition holds that Mecklenburg countians met in Charlotte on 20 May 1775 and adopted the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence, breaking with Britain more than a year before the national Declaration of Independence. No contemporary document survives, and historians dispute whether the meeting happened as described, but the date is carved into North Carolina’s state seal and flag to this day.

Gold discoveries in the region around 1800 drew prospectors to the county and led Congress to open a United States Mint branch in Charlotte in 1837, which struck coins until the Civil War and later served as an assay office until 1913. The mint building now houses part of the Mint Museum.

Getting There

Interstate 77 runs north-south through the county past Lake Norman and uptown Charlotte; Interstate 85 crosses it northeast-southwest; Interstate 485 forms an outer loop around the city; and Interstate 277 rings the immediate uptown core. US 21, US 29 and US 74 also cross the county.

• Raleigh — about 150 miles east
• Columbia, South Carolina — about 90 miles south
• Greenville, South Carolina — about 100 miles southwest
• Winston-Salem — about 80 miles northeast

Charlotte Douglas International Airport, in the county’s southwest, is American Airlines’ second-largest hub and the busiest airport in the Carolinas. Amtrak’s Crescent, Carolinian and Piedmont trains all stop at Charlotte’s station on North Tryon Street.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Mecklenburg County located?
It sits in North Carolina’s southern Piedmont on the South Carolina line, about 150 miles west of Raleigh, bordered by Iredell, Cabarrus, Union, Gaston and Lincoln counties.

What is the population of Mecklenburg County?
1,115,482 at the 2020 census, with an estimate near 1,233,383 by 2024.

How big is Mecklenburg County?
546.09 square miles (1,414.3 km2), of which 523.61 square miles are land.

What is the county seat of Mecklenburg County?
Charlotte, North Carolina’s largest city, has been the county seat since 1768.

How many towns and cities are in Mecklenburg County?
Seven incorporated places: Charlotte plus the towns of Cornelius, Davidson, Huntersville, Matthews, Mint Hill and Pineville.

What ZIP codes does Mecklenburg County use?
28202 for uptown Charlotte and roughly 40 codes across 28201–28299 for the rest of the city, plus 28031 (Cornelius), 28036 (Davidson), 28078 (Huntersville), 28105 (Matthews), 28227 (Mint Hill) and 28134 (Pineville).

What is Mecklenburg County known for?
Being home to Charlotte, a major US banking center, and to the disputed 1775 Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence commemorated on North Carolina’s state flag.

More counties in this state: Towns and villages in North Carolina.