Burke County, North Carolina

Burke County is a county in North Carolina, United States, in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains about 75 miles northwest of Charlotte. It had a population of 87,570 at the 2020 census, an estimated 87,795 by 2024, and covers 514.24 square miles (1,331.9 km2) centred near 35°45′N 81°43′W.

Morganton is the county seat and the county’s only city; its postal code is 28655. The county holds 1 city, 8 incorporated towns and 10 smaller communities, and it runs on Eastern Time. Its FIPS code is 37023.

Towns & Villages in Burke County

Nineteen named places sit inside the county line. Ten are incorporated or Census-recognised — the city of Morganton, the towns of Connelly Springs, Drexel, Glen Alpine, Hildebran, Long View, Rhodhiss, Rutherford College and Valdese, and the census-designated places of Icard and Salem. The rest are unincorporated communities: real places with names and mail delivery, but no town council of their own. Populations below are 2020 census counts; a dash means the place has no separate census count. CDP means census-designated place — a settlement the Census Bureau counts separately — and Unincorp. means an unincorporated community.

Two towns straddle the county line, so their populations above cover both sides. Long View sits mostly in Catawba County, with its western edge inside Burke. Rhodhiss sits mostly in Caldwell County; its town hall and most of its streets are on the Burke side of the Catawba River bridge built when the mill town expanded in the decade after its 1903 incorporation. Linville Falls is smaller still a shared place — it sits at the junction of Avery, Burke and McDowell counties.

ZIP Codes

Twelve post offices or ZIP codes serve Burke County addresses.

• 28601 — Long View (shared with Catawba County)
• 28612 — Connelly Springs
• 28619 — Drexel
• 28628 — Glen Alpine
• 28637 — Hildebran
• 28641 — Jonas Ridge
• 28647 — Linville Falls (shared with Avery and McDowell counties)
• 28655 — Morganton (also serves Salem)
• 28666 — Icard
• 28667 — Rhodhiss
• 28671 — Rutherford College
• 28690 — Valdese

Amherst, Chesterfield, Enola, Petersburg, Pleasant Grove and Sunnyside have no ZIP code of their own; mail to these communities is delivered through the nearest town’s post office.

Geography

Burke County sits where the Piedmont meets the Blue Ridge escarpment, rising from rolling foothills in the east to mountain terrain in the northwest. Of its 514.24 square miles, 506.24 are land and 8.00 are water, about 1.6 percent. Table Rock Mountain and the Linville Gorge, part of Pisgah National Forest, sit in the county’s northwest corner. The county’s biggest reservoir, Lake James, covers 6,812 acres at the confluence of the Catawba and Linville rivers; Duke Energy built the dam between 1916 and 1923 and first flooded the lake in 1919, and it still generates hydroelectric power today. Lake Rhodhiss, a smaller Catawba River impoundment, lies along the county’s northeastern border.

Six counties border Burke County: Avery to the northwest, Caldwell to the north, Catawba to the east, Cleveland to the south, Rutherford to the south, and McDowell to the west.

Demographics

The 2020 census counted 87,570 residents, and the latest estimate puts the county at roughly 87,795 — growth of under 1 percent in four years. Morganton, with 17,474 people, is the largest community; Long View, at 5,088 (split with Catawba County), is second. Median household income is about $58,600, well below North Carolina’s $70,804 (American Community Survey 2023 five-year estimate). Population density works out to about 173 people per square mile of land.

Economy & Local Life

Manufacturing is the county’s largest employment sector, with about 9,287 residents working in it, ahead of health care and social assistance (6,753) and retail trade (5,196). Morganton is home to several state institutions — Broughton Hospital, a state psychiatric hospital; the North Carolina School for the Deaf; and the J. Iverson Riddle Developmental Center. The Morganton Festival, held on the Burke County Courthouse Square the weekend after Labor Day, is the county’s largest annual event.

History

The Mississippian-era town of Joara, near present-day Morganton, was the center of the largest known Native American settlement in North Carolina, dating to around 1000 AD. In 1567, Spanish explorer Juan Pardo’s expedition built Fort San Juan at Joara, renaming the settlement Cuenca — a European outpost that predated the English colony at Jamestown, Virginia, by 40 years. Indigenous residents destroyed the fort in the spring of 1568. Archaeologists announced confirmation of the fort’s remains at the site in 2013.

The North Carolina General Assembly formed Burke County from Rowan County in 1777, during the Revolutionary War, naming it for Thomas Burke, then a delegate to the Continental Congress and later governor of North Carolina from 1781 to 1782. Burke County militiamen joined forces from across the Blue Ridge to fight British loyalist troops at the Battle of Kings Mountain. As the Piedmont and mountain population grew, parts of Burke’s original territory were carved into new counties: Buncombe in 1791, Yancey in 1833, Caldwell in 1841, McDowell in 1842 and Mitchell in 1861.

Getting There

Interstate 40 crosses the county east–west through Hildebran, Drexel, Morganton and Glen Alpine. US 64 and US 70 both intersect I-40 within the county.

• Lenoir — 15 miles northeast
• Asheville — 57 miles west
• Charlotte — 75 miles southeast

The nearest commercial airport is Asheville Regional Airport, about 57 miles west of Morganton. The nearest Amtrak station is Charlotte, about 75 miles southeast, served by the Crescent, Carolinian and Piedmont routes.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Burke County located?
Burke County is in the North Carolina foothills, about 75 miles northwest of Charlotte and 57 miles east of Asheville.

What is the population of Burke County?
87,570 at the 2020 census, estimated at roughly 87,795 in 2024.

How big is Burke County?
514.24 square miles in total (1,331.9 km2) — 506.24 square miles of land and 8.00 square miles of water.

What is the county seat of Burke County?
Morganton, population 17,474, which is also the county’s only city.

How many towns are in Burke County?
Eight incorporated towns — Connelly Springs, Drexel, Glen Alpine, Hildebran, Long View, Rhodhiss, Rutherford College and Valdese — plus the city of Morganton. A further ten census-designated places and unincorporated communities are listed above.

What are the Burke County ZIP codes?
28601, 28612, 28619, 28628, 28637, 28641, 28647, 28655, 28666, 28667, 28671 and 28690.

What is Joara, and why does it matter to Burke County’s history?
Joara was a Native American town near Morganton where Spanish soldiers built Fort San Juan in 1567 — a European outpost 40 years older than Jamestown. Archaeologists confirmed the fort’s site in 2013.

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