New Hanover County, North Carolina

New Hanover County is a county in North Carolina, United States, on the coast about 120 miles
south of Raleigh. It had a population of 225,702 at the 2020 census, an estimated 235,229 by
2024, and covers 192.26 square miles (498.0 km2) of land centred near 34°11′N 77°52′W —
plus another 136.60 square miles of water, since the county is nearly two-fifths tidal creek,
sound and river.

Wilmington is the county seat and the county’s only city; its postal code is 28401. The
county holds 1 city, 3 incorporated towns and 13 unincorporated communities, and it runs on
Eastern Time. Its FIPS code is 37129.

Towns & Villages in New Hanover County

New Hanover County has 17 named places on record: 4 incorporated cities and towns and 13
census-designated places with no local government of their own. CDP stands for census
designated place — a populated area the Census Bureau maps for statistical purposes only.
Township is the county’s historic 19th-century tax district; New Hanover kept five —
Cape Fear, Federal Point, Harnett, Masonboro and Wilmington — that carry no modern
governing power.

Kings Grant, Silver Lake, Skippers Corner, Bayshore and Myrtle Grove are five separately
mapped CDPs that sit side by side south of downtown Wilmington along Carolina Beach Road —
locals treat the strip as one continuous suburb, but the Census Bureau draws each as its own
place. Carolina Beach and Kure Beach share Pleasure Island, the barrier island south of Snows
Cut, and are sometimes confused with each other by visitors; they are separately incorporated
towns three miles apart.

ZIP Codes

• 28401 — Wilmington (downtown and historic district)
• 28403, 28405, 28409, 28411, 28412 — the rest of Wilmington’s city limits and the
  surrounding unincorporated suburbs, split by neighborhood
• 28428 — Carolina Beach
• 28449 — Kure Beach
• 28480 — Wrightsville Beach

None of the county’s 13 CDPs carries its own dedicated ZIP code; mail to Murraysville,
Myrtle Grove, Ogden, Kings Grant, Porters Neck, Silver Lake, Northchase, Bayshore, Skippers
Corner, Sea Breeze, Castle Hayne, Hightsville and Blue Clay Farms is delivered under one of
Wilmington’s five outlying codes, based on which side of the city the neighborhood sits on.

Geography

New Hanover County occupies a low, sandy peninsula between the Cape Fear River and the
Atlantic Ocean, and it is the second-smallest county in North Carolina by land area —
only Chowan County is smaller. Of its 328.86 square miles, 136.60 are water, a share driven by
the Cape Fear River along the county’s western edge, the Atlantic coastline, and Masonboro
Sound and Middle Sound separating the mainland from Wrightsville Beach and the barrier islands.
Snows Cut, a man-made channel completed in the 1930s as part of the Atlantic Intracoastal
Waterway, severs Pleasure Island from the rest of the mainland, so Carolina Beach and Kure Beach
are reached by bridge.

Pender County borders New Hanover to the north, and Brunswick County lies across the Cape
Fear River to the west and southwest. The Atlantic Ocean forms the entire eastern and southern
boundary, so New Hanover has only two land neighbors. Pender County and Brunswick County both border the
county directly.

Demographics

New Hanover County had a population of 225,702 at the 2020 census, and the latest estimate
puts the county near 235,229 residents as of 2024. Wilmington and Murraysville are the two
largest communities, together holding well over half the county’s population. Median
household income runs about $75,166, above North Carolina’s 2023 ACS statewide figure of
$70,804. Population density works out to roughly 1,174 people per square mile of land, high for
a coastal North Carolina county and driven by Wilmington’s urban core.

Economy & Local Life

Health care and social assistance employs the most workers in the county, about 17,578
people, followed by retail trade at 13,936 and professional, scientific and technical services
at 12,934. Novant Health New Hanover Regional Medical Center, the county’s largest
hospital system, anchors much of that health care employment in Wilmington. The University of
North Carolina Wilmington is a major employer and enrolls thousands of students each fall.
Cinespace Wilmington, the largest domestic film and television production facility outside
California, has earned the city the nickname “Hollywood East,” and PPD, a
Wilmington-headquartered clinical research organization, employs thousands more locally. The
Port of Wilmington, on the Cape Fear River, handles container and bulk cargo for the state. The
county’s biggest annual event is the North Carolina Azalea Festival each April, a downtown
Wilmington tradition drawing visitors well beyond the county’s own population.

History

The colonial assembly created New Hanover Precinct in 1729 and it gained full county status
in 1739, taking its name from the House of Hanover, the German royal family then ruling Great
Britain. The original county was far larger than today’s, and later divisions carved out
Duplin, Onslow, Bladen and other present-day counties from it. Wilmington was incorporated the
same year, 1739, and grew into the state’s busiest colonial port.

Fort Fisher, near present-day Kure Beach, was the largest earthen fortification held by the
Confederacy and protected Wilmington, the last major port still open to Confederate blockade
runners. It fell to a Union assault in January 1865, closing that port and hastening the war’s
end. In 1898, a mob of white supremacists in Wilmington overthrew the city’s legitimately
elected biracial government in a violent coup, killing dozens of Black residents and driving
hundreds more from the city — an episode historians describe as the only successful coup
d’etat in United States history. Hurricane Florence struck the county directly in September
2018, flooding much of Wilmington and Pleasure Island.

Getting There

Interstate 40 ends in Wilmington, its eastern terminus after running the length of the
state from the Tennessee line. US 17, US 74, US 76 and US 421 also run through the county.

• Jacksonville, NC — about 40 miles north
• Myrtle Beach, SC — about 55 miles south
• Fayetteville — about 90 miles northwest
• Raleigh — about 120 miles north

Wilmington International Airport (ILM), inside the county, offers commercial service to
several East Coast hub cities. New Hanover County has no Amtrak station; Amtrak’s Thruway
Motorcoach bus connects Wilmington to the passenger rail network at Raleigh.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is New Hanover County located?
On North Carolina’s southern coast, about 120 miles south of Raleigh, bordered by Pender
County to the north and Brunswick County across the Cape Fear River to the west.

What is the population of New Hanover County?
225,702 at the 2020 census, with an estimate near 235,229 as of 2024.

How big is New Hanover County?
328.86 square miles total, of which 192.26 square miles (498.0 km2) is land; the rest is water.

What is the county seat of New Hanover County?
Wilmington is the county seat and the county’s only incorporated city.

How many towns and villages are in New Hanover County?
Four incorporated places — Wilmington, Carolina Beach, Kure Beach and Wrightsville Beach
— plus 13 census-designated places including Murraysville, Myrtle Grove and Ogden.

What ZIP codes does New Hanover County use?
28401, 28403, 28405, 28409, 28411 and 28412 for Wilmington and its suburbs; 28428 for Carolina
Beach; 28449 for Kure Beach; and 28480 for Wrightsville Beach.

What is New Hanover County known for?
Fort Fisher, the Confederacy’s largest earthen fort, and Cinespace Wilmington, the
largest film and TV production studio outside California, which gave Wilmington its
“Hollywood East” nickname.

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