Wilkes County, North Carolina

Wilkes County is a county in North Carolina, United States, in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains about 45 miles northwest of Winston-Salem. It had a population of 65,969 at the 2020 census, an estimated 65,935 by 2024, and covers 756.33 square miles (1,958.9 km2) centred near 36°13′N 81°10′W.

Wilkesboro is the county seat; its postal code is 28697. The county holds 3 incorporated towns and several unincorporated communities and census-designated places, and it runs on Eastern Time. Its FIPS code is 37037.

Towns & Villages in Wilkes County

Wilkes County has 14 named places on record: 3 incorporated towns and 11 unincorporated places, 6 of them census-designated places (CDPs) with their own population counts. CDP stands for census designated place; Unincorp. covers communities with no formal boundary and no separate population figure.

Two names on this list are easy to confuse. Wilkesboro and North Wilkesboro sit directly across the Yadkin River from each other and share a school system and a Chamber of Commerce, but they are separate incorporated towns with separate governments — Wilkesboro is the older town and the county seat, North Wilkesboro is the larger of the two and grew up around the 1891 arrival of the Norfolk and Southern Railroad. Neither is related to the Wilkes County that sits in Georgia; that county was named for the same John Wilkes, but the two counties share no border, no river and no government.

ZIP Codes

• 28697 — Wilkesboro
• 28659 — North Wilkesboro (also serves Fairplains, Mulberry and Cricket)
• 28656, 28674 — North Wilkesboro post office box ZIPs
• 28651 — Millers Creek
• 28654 — Moravian Falls
• 28635 — Hays
• 28670 — Ronda
• 28669 — Roaring River
• 28685 — Traphill

Ferguson, Purlear and McGrady have no ZIP code of their own; mail there is delivered under the nearest incorporated town’s or CDP’s code.

Geography

Wilkes County sits where the Blue Ridge Mountains drop into North Carolina’s Piedmont, giving the county both mountain terrain in its northern and western townships and rolling foothill land around the Yadkin River valley in the south and east. Of its 756.33 square miles, 753.68 are land and 2.65 are water, under half a percent of the total. The Yadkin River crosses the county west to east through Wilkesboro and North Wilkesboro, and the W. Kerr Scott Dam and Reservoir, on the Yadkin just west of Wilkesboro, backs up a 1,475-acre lake with about 56 miles of shoreline. The Reddies River and Roaring River, both Yadkin tributaries, drain the county’s northern townships. A short stretch of the Blue Ridge Parkway runs along the county’s northwestern edge near Doughton Park.

Alleghany County lies to the north, Surry County to the northeast, Yadkin County to the east, Iredell County to the southeast, Alexander County to the south, Caldwell County to the southwest, Watauga County to the west and Ashe County to the northwest. Alleghany County, Surry County, Yadkin County, Iredell County, Alexander County, Caldwell County, Watauga County and Ashe County all border Wilkes directly.

Demographics

Wilkes County had a population of 65,969 at the 2020 census, and the latest Census Bureau estimate puts the county near 65,935 residents, essentially flat over the period. North Wilkesboro and Wilkesboro are the two largest communities, together home to roughly one in eight county residents, with the CDPs of Mulberry, Fairplains, Cricket and Millers Creek ringing them at similar size. Median household income runs $51,721, well below North Carolina’s statewide figure of $72,388. Population density works out to roughly 88 people per square mile of land, low for the Piedmont and typical of a rural mountain-foothill county.

Economy & Local Life

Manufacturing employs the most workers in the county, about 4,768 people, followed by retail trade at 4,246 and health care and social assistance at 3,908. Tyson Foods runs a large poultry processing plant in Wilkesboro, one of the county’s biggest single employers. Wilkes Medical Center, also in Wilkesboro, anchors the health care sector. Lowe’s, the home-improvement retailer, was founded in North Wilkesboro in 1946 and still employs workers at its original campus even after moving its corporate headquarters to Mooresville in 2003. Wilkes Community College, based in Wilkesboro, serves about 3,500 students and hosts the county’s biggest annual event: MerleFest, a bluegrass and Americana music festival held each April that draws more than 75,000 visitors over four days.

History

North Carolina’s colonial assembly formed Wilkes County on 15 February 1778, carving it out of Surry County. It was named for John Wilkes, an English politician the American colonists admired as a defender of liberty, though he never set foot in the county. Wilkesboro was laid out as the county seat in 1800, on the south bank of the Yadkin River.

Wilkes County’s rugged, hard-to-police terrain made it a center of illegal liquor production through Prohibition and long after, earning it the nickname the “Moonshine Capital of the World.” Local drivers who ran that liquor on back roads by night raced each other by day, and one of them, North Wilkesboro’s Junior Johnson, became a NASCAR champion and car owner after serving time for moonshining. North Wilkesboro Speedway, built in 1947, hosted one of NASCAR’s first Cup races in 1949 and ran continuously until it closed in 1996. After nearly three decades of abandonment, Speedway Motorsports reopened the track in 2022 and it hosted the NASCAR All-Star Race from 2023 through 2025, with the NASCAR Cup Series’ Window World 450 returning to the schedule in 2026.

Getting There

No interstate crosses Wilkes County. US 421, a divided four-lane freeway-grade route, is the county’s main artery, running from Winston-Salem through North Wilkesboro toward Boone and connecting to I-77 and I-40. US 21 and NC 16, NC 18, NC 115 and NC 268 also cross the county.

• Winston-Salem — about 45 miles east
• Boone — about 30 miles northwest
• Statesville — about 35 miles south
• Hickory — about 30 miles south

Wilkes County Airport, in North Wilkesboro, handles general aviation only. Piedmont Triad International Airport, in Greensboro about 65 miles east, is the nearest major commercial airport. Amtrak’s nearest station is in Salisbury, on the Piedmont and Carolinian lines.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Wilkes County located?
It sits in North Carolina’s Blue Ridge foothills, about 45 miles northwest of Winston-Salem, bordered by Alleghany, Surry, Yadkin, Iredell, Alexander, Caldwell, Watauga and Ashe counties.

What is the population of Wilkes County?
65,969 at the 2020 census, with a Census Bureau estimate near 65,935 for 2024.

How big is Wilkes County?
756.33 square miles (1,958.9 km2), of which 753.68 square miles are land.

What is the county seat of Wilkes County?
Wilkesboro, laid out in 1800 on the south bank of the Yadkin River, directly across from North Wilkesboro.

How many towns are in Wilkes County?
Three incorporated towns — North Wilkesboro, Wilkesboro and Ronda — plus six census-designated places (Mulberry, Fairplains, Cricket, Millers Creek, Moravian Falls and Hays) and several smaller unincorporated communities.

What ZIP codes does Wilkes County use?
28697 for Wilkesboro; 28659, 28656 and 28674 for North Wilkesboro and its neighboring CDPs; 28651, 28654, 28635, 28670, 28669 and 28685 for the county’s other towns and communities.

Is Wilkes County North Carolina the same as Wilkes County Georgia?
No. Both were named for the English politician John Wilkes, but they are unrelated counties in different states with no shared border.

What is Wilkes County known for?
Its Prohibition-era moonshine trade, which produced NASCAR pioneer Junior Johnson; North Wilkesboro Speedway, one of NASCAR’s original tracks, revived in 2022; and MerleFest, the annual bluegrass festival at Wilkes Community College.

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