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.

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.

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.

◊  To select a county from a clickable county map, go here.

Table of North Carolina Counties, Dates of Origin, and Origin Information
Alamance 1849, from Orange	Albemarle 1664, original county subdivided 1668 discontinued 1689	Alexander 1847, from Iredell, Caldwell, and Wilkes	Alleghany 1859, from Ashe
Anson adoptable 1750, from Bladen	Archdale 1705, from Bath became Craven in 1712	Avery 1911, from Caldwell, Mitchell and Watauga	Ashe 1799, from Wilkes
Bath 1696 original county subdivided 1705	Beaufort 1712, renamed from Bath/Pamptecough	Bertie 1722, from Chowan	Bladen 1734, from New Hanover
Brunswick 1764, from New Hanover and Bladen	Buncombe 1791, from Burke and Rutherford	Burke 1777, from Rowan	Bute  1764, from Granville became Franklin and Warren in 1779
Cabarrus 1792, from Mecklenburg	Caldwell 1841, from Burke and Wilkes	Camden 1777, from Pasquotank	Carteret 1722, from Craven
Caswell 1777, from Orange	Catawba 1842, from Lincoln	Chatham 1771, from Orange	Cherokee 1839, from Macon
Cherokee Reservation also called Qualla Boundary	Chowan 1670, from Albemarle	Clay 1861, from Cherokee	Cleveland 1841, from Rutherford and Lincoln
Columbus 1808, from Bladen and Brunswick	Craven 1712, renamed from Archdale Precinct of Bath County	Cumberland 1754, from Bladen	Currituck 1681, from Albemarle
Dare 1870, from Currituck, Tyrrell and Hyde	Davidson 1822, from Rowan	Davie 1836, from Rowan	Dobbs  1758, from Johnston became Glasgow and Lenoir in 1791
Duplin 1750, from New Hanover	Durham 1881, from Orange and Wake	Edgecombe 1741, from Bertie	Forsyth 1849, from Stokes
Franklin 1779, from Bute	Gaston 1846, from Lincoln	Gates 1779, from Chowan, Hertford and Perquimans	Glasgow  1791, from Dobbs became Greene in 1799
Graham 1872, from Cherokee	Granville 1746, from Edgecombe	Greene 1799, renamed from Glasgow	Guilford 1770, from Rowan and Orange
Halifax 1758, from Edgecombe	Harnett 1855, from Cumberland	Haywood 1808, from Buncombe	Henderson 1838, from Buncombe
Hertford 1759, from Bertie, Chowan, and Northampton	Hoke 1911, from Cumberland and Robeson	Hyde 1705, from Bath, as Wickham Precinct; became Hyde in 1712	Iredell 1788, from Rowan
Jackson 1851, from Haywood and Macon	Johnston 1746, from Craven	Jones 1778, from Craven	Lee 1907, from Chatham and Moore
Lenoir 1791, from Dobbs	Lincoln 1779, from Tryon	Macon 1828, from Haywood	Madison 1851, from Buncombe and Yancey
Martin 1774, from Halifax and Tyrrell	McDowell 1842, from Burke and Rutherford	Mecklenburg 1762, from Anson	Mitchell 1861, from Burke, Caldwell, McDowell, Watauga and Yancey
Montgomery 1779, from Anson	Moore 1784, from Cumberland	Nash 1777, from Edgecombe	New Hanover 1729, from Craven
Northampton 1741, from Bertie	Onslow 1734, from New Hanover	Orange 1752, from Bladen, Granville, and Johnston	Pamlico 1872, from Beaufort and Craven
Pasquotank 1681, from Albemarle	Pender 1875, from New Hanover	Perquimans 1679, from Albemarle	Person 1791, from Caswell
Pitt 1760, from Beaufort	Polk 1855, from Henderson and Rutherford	Randolph 1779, from Guilford	Richmond 1779, from Anson
Robeson adoptable 1787, from Bladen	Rockingham 1785, from Guilford	Rowan 1753, from Anson	Rutherford 1779, from Burke and Tryon
Sampson 1784, from Duplin	Scotland 1899, from Richmond	Stanly 1841, from Montgomery	Stokes adoptable 1789, from Surry
Surry 1770, from Rowan	Swain 1871, from Jackson and Macon	Transylvania 1861, from Henderson and Jackson	Tryon adoptable 1769, from Mecklenburg became Lincoln and Rutherford in 1779
Tyrrell 1729, from Bertie, Chowan, Currituck and Pasquotank	Union 1842, from Anson and Mecklenburg	Vance 1881, from Franklin, Granville, and Warren	Wake 1771, from Cumberland, Johnston and Orange
Warren 1779, from Bute	Washington 1799, from Tyrrell	Watauga 1849, from Ashe, Caldwell, Wilkes, and Yancey	Wayne 1779, from Dobbs
Wilkes 1778, from Surry	Wilson 1855, from Edgecombe, Johnston, Nash and Wayne	Yadkin 1850, from Surry	Yancey adoptable 1833, from Buncombe and Burke

Sources for county data:

• Powell, William S., The North Carolina Gazeteer. A Dictionary of Tar Heel Places, copyright 1968 by the University of North Carolina Press

  Schweitzer, George K., North Carolina Genealogical Research, copyright 1991 by Geo. K. Schweitzer, 407 Regent Court, Knoxville TN 37923