Like many cities across the USA, we find Raleigh’s history fascinating and even after living here for a total of 9 years now we are still discovering so much!
Raleigh in the capital of North Carolina and was officially named after the English explorer Sir Walter Raleigh who attempted to establish the first English colony on the shores of the new world in the 1580s.
Raleigh was founded in 1792 but wasn’t always the capital city of NC. When North Carolina was a colony, the capital was in New Bern and Edenton at different times.
Raleigh is located on the East Coast of the USA about halfway between New York City and Florida, in the northeast central region of North Carolina, where the Piedmont and Atlantic Coastal Plain regions meet.
- Durham: 24 miles
- Charlotte: 167 miles
- Asheville: 241 miles
- Washington D.C:
278 miles
- Atlanta: 407 miles
- Philadelphia: 417 miles
- NYC: 487 miles
- Nashville: 539 miles
- Orlando: 594 miles
According to the 2019 U.S. Census, the population of Raleigh is 474,069. It is the 2nd most populous city in North Carolina (behind Charlotte) and the 41st most populous city in the USA.