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Where am ILOCATED

Asheville, NC Metro Area

The Asheville, NC metro area is made up of 3 counties in North Carolina: Buncombe, Henderson, and Madison, largest first. About 422,345 people lived there on July 1, 2025 (Census estimate), 3.8% more than in April 2020.

Buncombe County, centralHenderson County, centralMadison County, outlyingAsheville
Central Outlying 3 counties in North Carolina
Population, July 2025
422,345 3.8% more than in April 2020
Type
Metropolitan statistical area
Counties
3: 2 central, 1 outlying
Land area
1,479 sq mi (3,831 km²)
Time zone
Eastern TimeUTC-05:00 in January; UTC-04:00 in July
State
North Carolina
Combined statistical area
Asheville-Waynesville-Brevard, NC
CBSA code
11700
Open this area in the metro area finder

Counties in the Asheville, NC metro area, largest first

CountyRolePopulation, July 2025Share of the area
Buncombe CountyCentral277,41765.7%
Henderson CountyCentral122,37529.0%
Madison CountyOutlying22,5535.3%

A central county holds the area’s core, an urban area of at least 50,000 people. An outlying county is in the area because of commuting: at least a quarter of its workers have jobs in the central counties, or at least a quarter of the people working there live in them. A county belongs to one metro or micro area at most, and it counts whole, countryside included.

Principal city

  1. Asheville94,535 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 Asheville-Waynesville-Brevard, NC combined statistical area

OMB joins neighboring metro and micro areas into a combined statistical area when enough people commute between them. The other 2 areas in this one, largest first:

  1. Waynesville, NC Micro Area63,369 people
  2. Brevard, NC Micro Area34,211 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. Brevard, NC Micro Area24 mi southwest
  2. Waynesville, NC Micro Area26 mi west
  3. Marion, NC Micro Area32 mi east
  4. Forest City, NC Micro Area42 mi southeast
  5. Greeneville, TN Micro Area44 mi north
  6. Newport, TN Micro Area45 mi northwest
  7. Greenville-Anderson-Greer, SC Metro Area52 mi south
  8. Johnson City, TN Metro Area54 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 ↗