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The Commemorative Quarter for North Carolina







Welcome to Raleigh ...

The city of Raleigh is primarily located in Wake County<1>. It is the County Seat and the capital of North Carolina. A portion of Raleigh extends into Durham County.



The pronunciation of Raleigh: rah-lee<2>

Raleigh was established in 1792.

When the people of Raleigh refer to themselves (known as a demonym), they frequently use Raleighite<3>

From the  Census Estimates for 2019, Raleigh has a population of 474,255 people<4> (see below for details).

The community of Raleigh is 360 feet [110 m] above sea level.<5>.

Time Zone: Raleigh lies in the Eastern Time Zone (EST/EDT) and observes daylight saving time

Telephone area codes for Raleigh: (919) and (984)<6>

Websites for Raleigh ...

Official Website:   www.raleigh-nc.org/

Chamber of Commerce:   www.raleighchamber.org/

Junior League:   www.jlraleigh.org/

Population Details ...

Taken from the 2019 Census Estimates, Raleigh had an population of 474,255 people. This is an increase of 17.42% since the 2010 Census (or an increase of 71.77% since the 2000 Census).

At the time of the 2010 Census, Raleigh had a population of 403,892 people (which is 44.83% of the total population of Wake County). This makes Raleigh the county's most populous community.

The population of Raleigh represents 4.24% of the population of North Carolina (which has 9,535,483 people), making it the state's 2nd most populous community.

With a 2010 count of 403,892 people, the population of Raleigh increased 46.29% from the 2000 Census (which had a count of 276,093 people).

More information can be found on the Census Page for Raleigh.

Communities Also Named Raleigh ...

Using our Gazetteer, we found that there are 15 communities that are also named Raleigh - they are located in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Mississippi, New Jersey, Newfoundland and Labrador, North Dakota, Ontario, Tennessee, Texas and West Virginia.

For more information, see our Tidbits & Trivia Page for Raleigh.

Communities near Raleigh ...

We have created a list of 10 communities that are near Raleigh.

  • Cary
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cary have been provided by the GNIS.<7> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cary
    • Cary is located in Chatham County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 173,587 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Cary <8>
  • Apex
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Apex have been provided by the GNIS.<7> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Apex
    • Apex is located in Wake County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 64,388 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Apex <8>
  • Wake Forest
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Wake Forest have been provided by the GNIS.<7> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wake Forest
    • Wake Forest is located in Franklin County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 47,314 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Wake Forest <8>
  • Holly Springs
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Holly Springs have been provided by the GNIS.<7> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Holly Springs
    • Holly Springs is located in Wake County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 39,882 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Holly Springs <8>
  • Fuquay - Varina
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Fuquay - Varina have been provided by the GNIS.<7> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fuquay - Varina
    • Fuquay - Varina is located in Wake County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 32,145 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Fuquay - Varina <8>
  • Morrisville
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Morrisville have been provided by the GNIS.<7> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Morrisville
    • Morrisville is located in Durham County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 30,495 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Morrisville <8>
  • Clayton
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Clayton have been provided by the GNIS.<7> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clayton
    • Clayton is located in Johnston County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 26,458 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Clayton <8>
  • Knightdale
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Knightdale have been provided by the GNIS.<7> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Knightdale
    • Knightdale is located in Wake County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 18,122 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Knightdale <8>
  • Wendell
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
  • Rolesville
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Rolesville have been provided by the GNIS.<7> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rolesville
    • Rolesville is located in Wake County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 8,882 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Rolesville <8>

To Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

We have a couple of sections for those tracing their genealogy.

We created a list of cemeteries that are in the area around Raleigh. Our list includes the location of those cemeteries and we provide an overhead view. See our Cemetery List for Raleigh.

Using the information from an 1895 Atlas, we've created a list of communities that were in the area of Raleigh. Our list includes information such as whether the 1895 community had a post office or railroad service. See our List of 1890's Communities around Raleigh.

We also have a detailed list of newspapers that have been published in the area around Raleigh. Our list includes 278 papers. See our Newspapers Page for Raleigh.

TripAdvisor Tourism Pages for Raleigh ...

Looking for more information about Raleigh? A wonderful source is the TripAdvisor website. We always start with the TripAdvisor Tourism page, where you can read an overview with links that will help you find lodging, restaurants and attractions.

In addition to the Tourism page for Raleigh, there are neighboring communities that also have Tourism pages. More information about those communities can be found on our TripAdvisor Page for Raleigh.

Adding Raleigh to Our Gazetteer ...

We originally found mention of Raleigh in both the FIPS-55 and the GNIS. For more information, see the FIPS and GNIS Codes sections on our Miscellaneous Page.

From our notes, the earliest published mention we've found for Raleigh was in the document titled List of Post Offices from Cameron Blevins and Richard Helbock.<9>

From that list, the Raleigh post office opened in 1795.

We also found Raleigh in the book titled U.S. Post Offices (1803).

For more details, see References and Mentions for Raleigh.

The official website for Raleigh: www.raleigh-nc.org/

The official website for Wake County: www.wakegov.com/

The official website for State of North Carolina: https://www.nc.gov/

Footnotes ...

<1>If you're interested in how the shape of North Carolina's counties, including Wake, have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.
<2>The pronunciation we've provided is our attempt to give a phonetic pronunciation for Raleigh. While it might not be exactly right, hopefully it will be close. If we have it wrong or there's a better way to pronounce the name, please contact us through our Feedback Page.
<3>A demonym is the name for a resident of a community which is usually derived from (or is related to) the name of that community. In other words, it's how the residents of Raleigh refer to themselves. It's important to note that there aren't any rules for taking a city's name and turning it into a demonym. A demonym is informal and while the majority of Raleigh may use one name, keep in mind that others may use something different.
<4>Population counts have been provided by the U.S. Census Bureau. For more detail, please visit our Census Page for Raleigh.
<5>The elevation is an estimate for the area around Raleigh - it will be higher in some places and lower in others.
<6>Area code (984) is an overlay for area code (919).
<7>The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required.
<8>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<9>A copy of their list with background information can be found at:

      https://cblevins.github.io/us-post-offices/data-biography/









 

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This page was last modified/updated: 10 Mar 2024