List of Counties
There are currently exactly 100 counties in North Carolina. The NCGenWeb project includes sites for each of these counties, for several counties that are now defunct (Albemarle, Bath, Bute, Dobbs, Glasgow, Tryon), and for the Cherokee Indian Reservation (Qualla Boundary).
The history of formation of these counties is complicated, but is essential information for genealogists to have, since records for a specific community may be found in several different counties over time. The county formation map set may help you visualize these changes, as well as this excerpt overview from David Corbitt’s The Formation of North Carolina Counties, 1663-1943.
- If you are interested in an adoptable county, view our volunteer information here.
- If you’re using records from the NC state archives, you may find the list of numerical codes for the counties to be helpful.
- If you have no idea where in NC your ancestor came from, or if you need to look up the county for a town or community name, visit the Unknown NC County page.
- To select a county from a clickable county map, go here.
| County | County Origins | Coordinator |
| Alamance | 1849, from Orange | Mary W. Ellis |
| Albemarle | 1664, original county (subdivided 1668 & discontinued in 1689) | Marla Beasley |
| Alexander | 1847, from Iredell, Caldwell, and Wilkes | ADOPTABLE |
| Alleghany | 1859, from Ashe | Eireann Brooks & LaRae Halsey-Brooks |
| Anson | 1750, from Bladen | ADOPTABLE |
| Ashe | 1799, from Wilkes | Crystal French |
| Avery | 1911, from Caldwell, Mitchell and Watauga | Mike DeLoach |
| Bath | 1696 [original county]; subdivided into 3-precincts in 1705, Archdale, Wickham, & Pamtecough; and, ceased in 1739 | Kay Midgett Sheppard |
| Beaufort | 1712, renamed from Pamtecough Precinct of Bath County; formally became a separate county in 1739. | Kay Midgett Sheppard |
| Bertie | 1722, from Chowan | Virginia Crilley & Claudia Harrell Williams |
| Bladen | 1734, from New Hanover | Jason Bordeaux |
| Brunswick | 1764, from New Hanover and Bladen | Natasha Miles |
| Buncombe | 1791, from Burke and Rutherford | Dee Gibson-Roles |
| Burke | 1777, from Rowan | Derick S. Hartshorn |
| Bute | 1764, from Granville; became Franklin and Warren in 1779 | Winona Solomon |
| Cabarrus | 1792, from Mecklenburg | Sharon Pierce |
| Caldwell | 1841, from Burke and Wilkes | ADOPTABLE |
| Camden | 1777, from Pasquotank | Darleen F. Ricci |
| Carteret | 1722, from Craven | Joel S. Russell |
| Caswell | 1777, from Orange | Rick Frederick & Martha Spencer |
| Catawba | 1842, from Lincoln | Derick S. Hartshorn |
| Chatham | 1771, from Orange | Sue Ashby |
| Cherokee | 1839, from Macon | Crystal French |
| Cherokee Reservation | also called Qualla Boundary | Dee Gibson-Roles |
| Chowan | 1670, from Albemarle | Diane Siniard |
| Clay | 1861, from Cherokee | Tim Seowolf-Self & Barbara A. Peck |
| Cleveland | 1841, from Rutherford and Lincoln | Derick S. Hartshorn |
| Columbus | 1808, from Bladen and Brunswick | Natasha Miles |
| Craven | 1712, renamed from Archdale Precinct of Bath County; formally became a separate county in 1739. | Diane Siniard |
| Cumberland | 1754, from Bladen | Myrtle Bridges |
| Currituck | 1681, from Albemarle | Kay Midgett Sheppard & Diane Siniard |
| Dare | 1870, from Currituck, Tyrrell and Hyde | Kay Midgett Sheppard & Marla Walker Beasley |
| Davidson | 1822, from Rowan | ADOPTABLE |
| Davie | 1836, from Rowan | ADOPTABLE |
| Dobbs | 1758, from Johnstonbecame Glasgow and Lenoir in 1791 | ADOPTABLE |
| Duplin | 1750, from New Hanover | Diane Siniard |
| Durham | 1881, from Orange and Wake | Ginger Smith |
| Edgecombe | 1741, from Bertie | Dan Clark |
| Forsyth | 1849, from Stokes | ADOPTABLE |
| Franklin | 1779, from Bute | Sheila Hanna |
| Gaston | 1846, from Lincoln | Derick S. Hartshorn |
| Gates | 1779, from Chowan, Hertford and Perquimans | Diane Siniard |
| Glasgow | 1791, from Dobbs became Greene in 1799 | N/A |
| Graham | 1872, from Cherokee | Crystal French |
| Granville | 1746, from Edgecombe | Nola Duffy & Deloris Williams |
| Greene | 1799, renamed from Glasgow | Diane Siniard |
| Guilford | 1771, from Rowan and Orange | Katherine Benbow |
| Halifax | 1758, from Edgecombe | Rebecca Dozier |
| Harnett | 1855, from Cumberland | Myrtle Bridges |
| Haywood | 1808, from Buncombe | Becky Howell, Doyle Chambers & Edward S. Black, Sr. |
| Henderson | 1838, from Buncombe | Kathy Summers & Ann Propst |
| Hertford | 1759, from Bertie, Chowan, and Northampton | Linda Melin Gamel |
| Hoke | 1911, from Cumberland and Robeson | Myrtle Bridges |
| Hyde | 1712, renamed from Wickham Precinct of Bath County; formally became a separate county in 1739. | John McGowan & Kay Midgett Sheppard |
| Iredell | 1788, from Rowan | Katherine Benbow |
| Jackson | 1851, from Haywood and Macon | Dee Gibson-Roles |
| Johnston | 1746, from Craven | ADOPTABLE |
| Jones | 1778, from Craven | Taneya Koonce |
| Lee | 1907, from Chatham and Moore | ADOPTABLE |
| Lenoir | 1791, from Dobbs | Diane Siniard |
| Lincoln | 1779, from Tryon | Derick S. Hartshorn |
| Macon | 1828, from Haywood | Dee Gibson-Roles |
| Madison | 1851, from Buncombe and Yancey | Dee Gibson-Roles |
| Martin | 1774, from Halifax and Tyrrell | Taneya Koonce |
| McDowell | 1842, from Burke and Rutherford | Jeanne Hicks |
| Mecklenburg | 1762, from Anson | ADOPTABLE |
| Mitchell | 1861, from Burke, Caldwell, McDowell, Watauga and Yancey | Beth Bradford-Pytel |
| Montgomery | 1779, from Anson | ADOPTABLE |
| Moore | 1784, from Cumberland | Sue Ashby |
| Nash | 1777, from Edgecombe | Earl Bell |
| New Hanover | 1729, from Craven | Natasha Miles |
| Northhampton | 1741, from Bertie | Becky Dozier |
| Onslow | 1734, from New Hanover | Taneya Koonce |
| Orange | 1752, from Bladen, Granville, and Johnston | Joyce Wilson Harrison |
| Pamlico | 1872, from Beaufort and Craven | Kay Midgett Sheppard |
| Pasquotank | 1681, from Albemarle | Diane Siniard |
| Pender | 1875, from New Hanover | Diane Siniard |
| Perquimans | 1679, from Albemarle | Diane Siniard |
| Person | 1791, from Caswell | Ed Clayton |
| Pitt | 1760, from Beaufort | ADOPTABLE |
| Polk | 1855, from Henderson and Rutherford | Katy Hestad |
| Randolph | 1779, from Guilford | ADOPTABLE |
| Richmond | 1779, from Anson | Myrtle Bridges |
| Robeson | 1787, from Bladen | Blake Tyner |
| Rockingham | 1785, from Guilford | Denise Woodside |
| Rowan | 1753, from Anson | Maggie Stewart & Edward S. Black, Sr. |
| Rutherford | 1779, from Burke and Tryon | Jeff Kemp |
| Sampson | 1784, from Duplin | Jo Branch |
| Scotland | 1899, from Richmond | ADOPTABLE |
| Stanly | 1841, from Montgomery | Sharon Pierce |
| Stokes | 1789, from Surry | ADOPTABLE |
| Surry | 1771, from Rowan | Katherine Benbow |
| Swain | 1871, from Jackson and Macon | Dee Gibson-Roles |
| Transylvania | 1861, from Henderson and Jackson | David & Linda Anders |
| Tryon | 1769, from Mecklenburgbecame Lincoln and Rutherford in 1779 | Derick Harshorn |
| Tyrrell | 1729, from Bertie, Chowan, Currituck and Pasquotank | Charles Barnes & Gordon Basnight |
| Union | 1842, from Anson and Mecklenburg | Denise Woodside |
| Vance | 1881, from Franklin, Granville, and Warren | Deloris Williams |
| Wake | 1771, from Cumberland, Johnston and Orange | Taneya Koonce |
| Warren | 1779, from Bute | Nola Duffy & Ginger Christmas -Beattie |
| Washington | 1799, from Tyrrell | Taneya Koonce |
| Watauga | 1849, from Ashe, Caldwell, Wilkes, and Yancey | ADOPTABLE |
| Wayne | 1779, from Dobbs | Diane Siniard |
| Wilkes | 1778, from Surry | Cristy Fisher |
| Wilson | 1855, from Edgecombe, Johnston, Nash and Wayne | Katy Hestand |
| Yadkin | 1850, from Surry | Cristy Fisher |
| Yancey | 1833, from Buncombe and Burke | Beth Bradford-Pytel |
Sources for county data
- Powell, William Stevens. The North Carolina Gazetteer. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1968. [Find in a Library]
- Schweitzer, George Keene. North Carolina Genealogical Research. Knoxville, TN (7914 Gleason, C-1136, Knoxville 37919): G.K. Schweitzer, 1984. [Find in a Library]
