North Carolina Cities by Population 2025

North Carolina’s municipal structure includes 100 counties and over 550 incorporated cities, towns, and villages, with counties and municipalities providing distinct, complementary services. Counties manage services across wide areas, while municipalities handle local governance within their boundaries.

Charlotte, North Carolina’s largest city, operates under a council-manager government where the elected city council sets policies and budgets, and a city manager handles administration. This allows Charlotte to focus on public safety, economic development, and infrastructure independently, with council oversight to maintain accountability.

Raleigh, the state capital, follows a similar council-manager model, which balances legislative direction from the council with administrative leadership from the manager. Raleigh’s structure enables efficient municipal management while allowing for specialized services like water utilities, planning, and zoning.

Smaller towns and villages, such as Cary and Chapel Hill, often adopt the council-manager or mayor-council structures depending on local preferences. This setup provides flexibility, allowing municipalities to adapt governance structures that best suit community needs and population sizes.

Counties like Wake County and Mecklenburg County oversee services in unincorporated areas, focusing on health, public education, and emergency services. County commissioners manage these services, ensuring consistent support for both urban and rural residents across the state.

North Carolina’s unincorporated areas are predominantly rural, where counties provide essential services and residents have limited local legislative power. In many cases, communities in these areas are represented by advisory councils that communicate needs to county authorities.

Councils of government across the state promote collaboration between counties and municipalities, addressing issues like water resources, transportation, and land use to manage growth in urbanizing areas effectively.