Albemarle, NC Micro Area

The Albemarle, NC micro area is one county in North Carolina: Stanly County. About 68,830 people lived there on July 1, 2025 (Census estimate), 10.1% more than in April 2020.

Stanly County, centralAlbemarle
Stanly County in North Carolina
Population, July 2025
68,830 10.1% more than in April 2020
Type
Micropolitan statistical area
County
Stanly County
Land area
395 sq mi (1,023 km²)
Time zone
Eastern TimeUTC-05:00 in January; UTC-04:00 in July
State
North Carolina
Combined statistical area
Charlotte-Concord, NC-SC
CBSA code
10620

The county in the Albemarle, NC micro area

CountyRolePopulation, July 2025
Stanly CountyCentral68,830

A central county holds the area’s core, an urban area of 10,000 to 49,999 people. This area has no outlying counties: no neighboring county sends enough commuters to join it. A county belongs to one metro or micro area at most, and it counts whole, countryside included.

Principal city

  1. Albemarle16,762 people

OMB names the area after its largest principal cities. A principal city is the area’s largest city, plus any other city that is very large or a big job center, and smaller ones with at least as many jobs as working residents (2020 Census and commuting figures). People counts are American Community Survey 2020–2024 5-year estimates.

Part of the Charlotte-Concord, NC-SC combined statistical area

OMB joins neighboring metro and micro areas into a combined statistical area when enough people commute between them. The other 4 areas in this one, largest first:

  1. Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC Metro Area2,938,830 people
  2. Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton, NC Metro Area376,890 people
  3. Shelby-Kings Mountain, NC Micro Area103,325 people
  4. Marion, NC Micro Area45,198 people

Bordering metro and micro areas, nearest first

Areas with a county on this area’s edge. Distances are straight lines between the areas’ largest cities.

  1. Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC Metro Area38 mi west
  2. Rockingham, NC Micro Area38 mi southeast
  3. Winston-Salem, NC Metro Area52 mi north

Before using this answer on a form

A metro or micro area is a statistical area that OMB draws for federal statistics. It is not a city, a local government or a mailing address, and it is not a measure of urban and rural: whole counties count, rural parts included. Programs that use metro areas, such as housing income limits or wage rates, can use their own version of these lists; check the program’s own list for an address.

Find the metro area where you are now, find your county, or see every metro and micro area by population.

See this area on Census.gov ↗