Durham County is a

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

located in the U.S. state of

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

. As of the 2020 census, the population was 324,833, making it the sixth-most populous county in North Carolina. Its

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

is Durham, which is the only incorporated municipality predominantly in the county, though very small portions of cities and towns mostly in neighboring counties also extend into Durham County. The central and southern parts of Durham County are highly urban, consisting of the city as well as several unincorporated suburbs. Southeastern Durham County is dominated by the Research Triangle Park, most of which is in Durham County. The northern third of Durham County is rural in nature. Durham County is the core of the Durham- Chapel Hill, NC Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is also included in the

Raleigh Raleigh ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, second-most populous city in the state (after Charlotte, North Carolina, Charlotte) ...

-Durham- Cary, NC Combined Statistical Area, which had an estimated population of 2,368,947 in 2023.

History

The county was formed on April 17, 1881, from parts of Orange County and Wake County, taking the name of its own county seat. In 1911, parts of Cedar Fork Township of Wake County were transferred to Durham County and became Carr Township.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (3.80%) is water.

State and local protected areas/sites

* Bennett Place State Historic Site * Butner-Falls of Neuse Game Land (part) * Duke Homestead and Tobacco Factory * East Durham Historic District * Eno River State Park (part) * Falls Lake State Recreation Area (part) * Historic Stagville * Hollow Rock Nature Park (part) * Horton Grove Nature Preserve * Jordan Game Land (part) * Little River Regional Park and Natural Area (part) * Mason Farm Biological Reserve (part) * Museum of Life and Science * Rolling View State Recreation Area (part)

Major water bodies

* B. Everett Jordan Lake * Crabtree Creek * Ellerbe Creek * Eno River * Falls Lake * Flat River * Lake Michie * Little River *

New Hope Creek New Hope Creek is a watercourse that rises in rural Orange County, North Carolina, in the United States. It drains the western portion of Orange County and the southern half of Durham County and flows into the northern end of Jordan Lake rese ...

* Stirrup Iron Creek

Adjacent counties

* Person County – north * Granville County – northeast * Wake County – east-southeast * Chatham County – south * Orange County – west

Major highways

* * * * * * * * (Durham) * (to Orange County) * * * * * * * * ( truck route)

Major infrastructure

* Durham Station

Demographics

2020 census

As of the 2020 census, there were 324,833 people, 131,140 households, and 75,291 families residing in the county.

2000 census

At the 2000 census, there were 223,314 people, 89,015 households, and 54,032 families residing in the county. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...

was . There were 95,452 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 50.91%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 39.46%

Black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 0.30% Native American, 3.29% Asian, 0.04%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

, 4.21% from other races, and 1.80% from two or more races. 7.63% of the population were

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race. There were 89,015 households, out of which 29.10% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 42.00% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

living together, 14.80% had a female householder with no husband present, and 39.30% were non-families. 30.00% of all households were made up of individuals, and 7.00% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.40 and the average family size was 2.99. In the county, the age distribution was as follows: 22.90% under the age of 18, 12.80% from 18 to 24, 34.80% from 25 to 44, 19.80% from 45 to 64, and 9.70% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 32 years. For every 100 females there were 93.00 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 89.70 males. The median income for a household in the county was $43,337, and the median income for a family was $53,223. Males had a median income of $35,939 versus $30,683 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the county was $23,156. About 9.80% of families and 13.40% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 17.20% of those under age 18 and 12.30% of those age 65 or over.

Law and government

Durham County is a member of the regional Triangle J Council of Governments. Durham County is governed by a five-member board of county commissioners, currently consisting of Chair Brenda A. Howerton, Vice Chair Wendy Jacobs, Nimasheena Burns, Heidi Carter, and Nida Allam. All are elected concurrently, and each elected member serves a four-year term. The current

sheriff A sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland, the , which is common ...

, Clarence Birkhead, was elected in 2018 and is the county's first African American Sheriff to hold office.

Politics

Durham County is consistently one of the most Democratic counties in North Carolina, favoring Democrats in national, state, and local elections. having only voted for the Republican candidate twice since 1884, the Republican landslides of 1928 and 1972.

George H. W. Bush George Herbert Walker BushBefore the outcome of the 2000 United States presidential election, he was usually referred to simply as "George Bush" but became more commonly known as "George H. W. Bush", "Bush Senior," "Bush 41," and even "Bush th ...

is the last Republican to manage even 40 percent of the county's vote. Since the 1990s, Durham County has been one of the most Democratic urban counties in the South.

Communities

Map of Durham County North Carolina With Municipal and Township Labels

The city of Durham is the only incorporated municipality to predominantly exist within Durham County, and the only one whose urban core lies within the county, though small portions of municipalities from neighboring counties extend into Durham County, and the city of Durham also itself extends slightly into neighboring counties. All other towns and places within Durham County are unincorporated communities.

Cities

* Durham (county seat and largest community; small portions extend into Wake and Orange counties) *

(mostly in Wake County)Raleigh Durham Annexation Agreement Lines

Towns

* Chapel Hill (mostly in Orange County) * Morrisville (mostly in Wake County)

Townships

* Carr * Durham *

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

* Mangum * Oak Grove *

Triangle A triangle is a polygon with three corners and three sides, one of the basic shapes in geometry. The corners, also called ''vertices'', are zero-dimensional points while the sides connecting them, also called ''edges'', are one-dimension ...

Census-designated places

* Gorman * Rougemont (small portions extend into neighboring Person County)

Unincorporated communities

* Bahama * Bethesda * Genlee * Lowe's Grove * Nelson * Oak Grove * Braggtown

Notable person

* Margaret O'Neal (1884–?), sharecropper

References

External links

* *
Greater Durham Chamber of Commerce

Durham County Library website

North Carolina Room of the Durham County Library
online archive which collects materials concerning the city and county of Durham
Durham – Orange Genealogical Society of North Carolina
{{Authority control 1881 establishments in North Carolina Populated places established in 1881 Majority-minority counties in North Carolina