Burlington, NC Metro Area

The Burlington, NC metro area is one county in North Carolina: Alamance County. About 186,177 people lived there on July 1, 2025 (Census estimate), 8.6% more than in April 2020.

Alamance County, centralBurlington
Alamance County in North Carolina
Population, July 2025
186,177 8.6% more than in April 2020
Type
Metropolitan statistical area
County
Alamance County
Land area
423 sq mi (1,097 km²)
Time zone
Eastern TimeUTC-05:00 in January; UTC-04:00 in July
State
North Carolina
Combined statistical area
Greensboro--Winston-Salem--High Point, NC
CBSA code
15500

The county in the Burlington, NC metro area

CountyRolePopulation, July 2025
Alamance CountyCentral186,177

A central county holds the area’s core, an urban area of at least 50,000 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. Burlington59,610 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 Greensboro--Winston-Salem--High Point, NC combined statistical area

OMB joins neighboring metro and micro areas into a combined statistical area when enough people commute between them. The other 3 areas in this one, largest first:

  1. Greensboro-High Point, NC Metro Area805,945 people
  2. Winston-Salem, NC Metro Area712,206 people
  3. Mount Airy, NC Micro Area72,287 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. Greensboro-High Point, NC Metro Area20 mi west
  2. Durham-Chapel Hill, NC Metro Area33 mi east

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 ↗