Categories
City size

How big is Raleigh, North Carolina?

Size is not all that matters. But still, we would love to know how big Raleigh in North Carolina is. Here is the answer:

Raleigh, North Carolina covers an area of 378.62 square kilometers (146.19 square miles).

With 439,896 people living in Raleigh that comes to a population density of 1161.84 inhabitants per square kilometer (3009.07 / sq mi)

As a reference: The 8,398,748 people living in New York City are crammed onto 1214 sq km (468.73 sq mi), which results into a population density of 6918 inhabitants per square kilometer (17918 / sq mi).

The population density of Raleigh in North Carolina is 378.62 square kilometers (146.19 square miles)

Raleigh (; RAH-lee) is the capital of the state of North Carolina and the seat of Wake County in the United States. Raleigh is the second-largest city in the state, after Charlotte. Raleigh is known as the “City of Oaks” for its many oak trees, which line the streets in the heart of the city. The city covers a land area of 142.8 square miles (370 km2). The U.S. Census Bureau estimated the city’s population as 474,069 as of July 1, 2019. It is one of the fastest-growing cities in the country. The city of Raleigh is named after Sir Walter Raleigh, who established the lost Roanoke Colony in present-day Dare County.Raleigh is home to North Carolina State University (NCSU) and is part of Research Triangle Park (RTP), together with Durham (home of Duke University and North Carolina Central University) and Chapel Hill (home of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill). The “Triangle” nickname originated after the 1959 creation of the Research Triangle Park, located in Durham and Wake counties, among the three cities and their universities. The Research Triangle region encompasses the U.S. Census Bureau’s Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill Combined Statistical Area (CSA), which had an estimated population of 2,037,430 in 2013. The Raleigh metropolitan statistical area had an estimated population of 1,214,516 in 2013.Most of Raleigh is located within Wake County, with a very small portion extending into Durham County. The towns of Cary, Morrisville, Garner, Clayton, Wake Forest, Apex, Holly Springs, Fuquay-Varina, Knightdale, Wendell, Zebulon, and Rolesville are some of Raleigh’s primary nearby suburbs and satellite towns.Raleigh is an early example in the United States of a planned city. Following the American Revolutionary War when the US gained independence, this was chosen as the site of the state capital in 1788 and incorporated in 1792 as such. The city was originally laid out in a grid pattern with the North Carolina State Capitol in Union Square at the center. During the American Civil War, the city was spared from any significant battle. It fell to the Union in the closing days of the war, and struggled with the economic hardships in the postwar period related to the reconstitution of labor markets, over-reliance on agriculture, and the social unrest of the Reconstruction Era. Following the establishment of the Research Triangle Park (RTP) in 1959, several tens of thousands of jobs were created in the fields of science and technology, and it became one of the fastest-growing communities in the United States by the early 21st century.

Cities with a similar size as Raleigh

If you want to check which cities have a similar size as Raleigh, North Carolina, here you go:

  • Philadelphia, Pennsylvania with a size of 369.61 square kilometers (369.61 sq mi), population: 1,580,863
  • Montgomery, Alabama with a size of 418.40 square kilometers (418.40 sq mi), population: 205,764
  • Hampton, Virginia with a size of 352.90 square kilometers (352.90 sq mi), population: 136,699
  • Kansas City, Kansas with a size of 332.49 square kilometers (332.49 sq mi), population: 145,786
  • Sierra Vista, Arizona with a size of 394.96 square kilometers (394.96 sq mi), population: 43,888
  • Lubbock, Texas with a size of 325.75 square kilometers (325.75 sq mi), population: 255,885
  • Shreveport, Louisiana with a size of 316.88 square kilometers (316.88 sq mi), population: 199,311
  • Atlanta, Georgia with a size of 348.00 square kilometers (348.00 sq mi), population: 486,290
  • Mobile, Alabama with a size of 466.37 square kilometers (466.37 sq mi), population: 195,111
  • Fernley, Nevada with a size of 334.93 square kilometers (334.93 sq mi), population: 19,368

Cities with a similar population density as Raleigh

Other cities that have a similar population density as Raleigh, North Carolina are:

Cities with a similar population size as Raleigh

Here a list of cities that have a similar number of inhabitants like Raleigh, North Carolina: