Raleigh Map
Raleigh was not an existing town that became a capital. The state bought farmland in 1792 and laid out a city for the purpose; it held about 500,000 people in 2024.
Where is Raleigh?
Raleigh is in the east-central Piedmont of North Carolina, near the fall line where the hills give way to the coastal plain. The site was chosen for its position rather than any feature of the ground. It is about 165 miles northeast of Charlotte, roughly 25 miles east of Durham, and some 155 miles southwest of Richmond.
Raleigh at a glance
| State | North Carolina |
| Counties | Durham, and Wake counties |
| Population | 499,825 (2024 Census estimate) |
| Rank among US cities | No. 39 of the 100 largest |
| Time zone | Eastern Time |
| Region | South (South Atlantic division) |
Raleigh sits at No. 39 in the 2024 estimates, 16,207 people behind Kansas City and 6,271 ahead of Colorado Springs. Within North Carolina it comes second of five, behind Charlotte. Against North Carolina's 11.05 million residents, though, that is only about 4.5%. It reaches into two counties, of which Wake County is much the largest: the city holds about 41% of that county's 1,232,444 people.
Raleigh in North Carolina
Raleigh is the seat of Wake County, the most populous of North Carolina's 100 counties, and the city has grown west into Durham County as well — the North Carolina county map shows the pair. Together with Durham and Chapel Hill it forms the Research Triangle, three towns around a research park that none of them contains. Charlotte, Greensboro and Winston-Salem continue the Piedmont chain west; see the North Carolina state page for how the state is layered from the mountains to the sea.
Piedmont, fall line and coastal plain
North Carolina runs in three long belts, and Raleigh sits on the last of the Piedmont before the coastal plain begins a few miles east. The Neuse River, which drains the city, crosses that boundary and flows on to Pamlico Sound — a shallow, barrier-island coast quite unlike the open Atlantic shore further north. The Appalachians are 250 miles west at the far end of the state, so Raleigh's landscape is red clay hills and pine rather than anything steeper.
Cities near Raleigh
Related pages: Durham, Greensboro, Winston-Salem, Charlotte and Richmond. The capitals map shows Raleigh among the other 49 seats of government.