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The Commemorative
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The Commemorative Quarter for North Carolina





Welcome to Cary ...

The town of Cary is primarily located in Chatham County<1>. A portion of Cary extends into Wake County.

The location of Cary has been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (ie- the GNIS).<2>

From the  Census Estimates for 2019, Cary has a population of 170,568 people<3> (see below for details).

Cary is 420 feet [128 m] above sea level.<4>.

Time Zone: Cary lies in the Eastern Time Zone (EST/EDT) and observes daylight saving time

Area codes for Cary: (919) & (984)<5>

The community of Cary was established in 1750.

Websites for Cary ...

Official Website:   www.townofcary.org/

Chamber of Commerce:   www.carychamber.com/

Population Details ...

Taken from the 2019 Census Estimates, Cary had an population of 170,568 people. This is an increase of 26.13% since the 2010 Census (or an increase of 80.43% since the 2000 Census).

At the time of the 2010 Census, Cary had a population of 135,234 people (which is 212.95% of the total population of Chatham County). This makes Cary the county's most populous community.

The population of Cary represents 1.42% of the total population of North Carolina (which has 9,535,483 people), making it the state's 7th most populous community.

With a 2010 count of 135,234 people, the population of Cary increased 43.05% from the 2000 Census (which had a count of 94,536 people).

More information can be found on the Census Page for Cary.

Communities Also Named Cary ...

Using our Gazetteer, we found that there are 10 communities that are also named Cary - they are located in Arkansas, Florida, Georgia (2), Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Mississippi and Missouri.

For more information, see our Tidbits & Trivia Page for Cary.

Communities near Cary ...

We have created a list of 10 communities that are near Cary.

  • Raleigh
  • Durham
  • Chapel Hill
  • Holly Springs
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Holly Springs
    • Holly Springs lies 8 miles [12.9 km]<6> to the south of Cary.
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 39,882 people
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Holly Springs have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to Google Maps centered on Holly Springs
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Holly Springs<7>
  • Garner
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Garner
    • Garner lies 12 miles [19.3 km]<6> to the southeast of Cary.
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 32,180 people
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Garner have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to Google Maps centered on Garner
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Garner<7>
  • Fuquay-Varina
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fuquay-Varina
    • Fuquay-Varina lies 13 miles [20.9 km]<6> to the south of Cary.
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 32,145 people
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Fuquay-Varina have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to Google Maps centered on Fuquay-Varina
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Fuquay-Varina<7>
  • Carrboro
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Carrboro
    • Carrboro lies 18 miles [29 km]<6> to the northwest of Cary.
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 21,239 people
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Carrboro have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to Google Maps centered on Carrboro
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Carrboro<7>
  • Knightdale
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Knightdale
    • Knightdale lies 17 miles [27.4 km]<6> to the east of Cary.
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 18,122 people
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Knightdale have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to Google Maps centered on Knightdale
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Knightdale<7>
  • Angier
  • Apex
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Apex
    • Apex lies 4 miles [6.4 km]<6> to the southwest of Cary.
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 64,388 people
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Apex have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to Google Maps centered on Apex
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Apex<7>

To Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

We have a couple of sections for those tracing their genealogy.

We created a list of cemeteries that are in the area around Cary. Our list includes the location of those cemeteries and we provide an overhead view. See our Cemetery List for Cary.

Using the information from an 1895 Atlas, we've created a list of communities that were in the area of Cary. Our list includes information such as whether the 1895 community had a post office or railroad service. See our List of 1890's Communities around Cary.

We also have a detailed list of newspapers that have been published in the area around Cary. See our Newspapers Page for Cary.

TripAdvisor Tourism Pages for Cary ...

Looking for more information about Cary? A wonderful source is the TripAdvisor website. We always start with the TripAdvisor Tourism page, where you can read an overview with links that will help you find lodging, restaurants and attractions.

In addition to the Tourism page for Cary, there are neighboring communities that also have Tourism pages. More information about those communities can be found on our TripAdvisor Page for Cary.

Adding Cary to Our Gazetteer ...

We originally found mention of Cary in both the FIPS-55 and the GNIS. For more information, see the FIPS and GNIS Codes sections on our Miscellaneous Page.

From our notes, the earliest published mention that we've found for Cary was the Business Atlas and Shippers' Guide (1895).

We also found Cary on a map titled Rand McNally Map of North Carolina (1911).

For more details about the above, see References and Mentions for Cary.

The official website for Cary: www.townofcary.org/

The official website for Chatham County: www.co.chatham.nc.us/

The official website for State of North Carolina: https://www.nc.gov/

Footnotes ...

<1>If you're interested in how the shape of North Carolina's counties, including Chatham, have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.
<2>The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required.
<3>Population counts have been provided by the U.S. Census Bureau. For more detail, please visit our Census Page for Cary.
<4>The elevation is an estimate for the area around Cary - it will be higher in some places and lower in others.
<5>Area code (984) is an overlay for area code (919).
<6>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Cary) to Point B.If you need the driving distance (or directions), we recommend that you use one of the Mapping Services listed on our Map Page for Cary. Since we usually use Google Maps, we've provided the following link: Google Map and Driving Directions starting from CaryOur distance measurements begin at a specific point in Cary. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 35.7811, Longitude: -78.8134       In this case, the coordinates for Cary have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<7>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.




 

 

 

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This page was last modified/updated: 20 Mar 2023