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Welcome to Shelby ...

The city of Shelby is located in Cleveland County<1> and is the County Seat for Cleveland County.

While we don't have a date for the founding of Shelby, you might consider that their post office opened  in 1841.

From the  Census Estimates for 2019, Shelby has a population of 20,015 people<2> (see below for details).

Shelby is 850 feet [259 m] above sea level.<3>.

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

Area Codes for Shelby: 704 & 980<4>

The ZIP code for Shelby: 28150<5>

Population Details ...

Taken from the 2019 Census Estimates, Shelby had an population of 20,015 people. This is a decrease of 1.52% since the 2010 Census (or an increase of 2.76% since the 2000 Census).

At the time of the 2010 Census, Shelby had a population of 20,323 people (or 20.76% of the total population of Cleveland County). This makes Shelby the county's most populous community.

The population of Shelby represents 0.21% of the total population of North Carolina (which has 9,535,483 people), making it the state's 44th most populous community.

With a 2010 count of 20,323 people, the population of Shelby increased 4.34% from the 2000 Census (which had a count of 19,477 people).

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

Communities Also Named Shelby ...

Using our Gazetteer, we found that there are 23 communities that are also named Shelby - they are located in Alabama, Indiana (2), Iowa, Kentucky (2), Michigan (3), Mississippi (2), Missouri (2), Montana, Nebraska, New York, Ohio, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Virginia (2) and Wisconsin.

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

Websites for Shelby ...

Official Website:   www.cityofshelby.com/

Chamber of Commerce:   www.clevelandchamber.org/

Communities near Shelby ...

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

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 Shelby. Our list includes the location of those cemeteries and we provide an overhead view. See our Cemetery List for Shelby.

Using the information from an 1895 Atlas, we've created a list of communities that were in the area of Shelby. 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 Shelby.

We also have a detailed list of newspapers that have been published in the area around Shelby. Our list includes 20 papers. See our Newspapers Page for Shelby.

TripAdvisor Tourism Pages for Shelby ...

Looking for more information about Shelby? 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 Shelby, there are neighboring communities that also have Tourism pages. More information about those communities can be found on our TripAdvisor Page for Shelby.

Adding Shelby to Our Gazetteer ...

We originally found mention of Shelby 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 we've found for Shelby was in the document titled List of Post Offices from Cameron Blevins and Richard Helbock.<8>

X2X - From that list, the Shelby post office opened in 1841.

We also found Shelby in the book titled U.S. Post Offices (Oct. 1846).

For more details, see References and Mentions for Shelby.

The official website for Shelby: www.cityofshelby.com/

The official website for Cleveland County: www.clevelandcounty.com/

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 Cleveland, have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.
<2>Population counts have been provided by the U.S. Census Bureau. For more detail, please visit our Census Page for Shelby.
<3>The elevation is an estimate for the area around Shelby - it will be higher in some places and lower in others.
<4>When there's a risk of an area code running out of phone numbers, an 'Overlay Area Code' is created that has the same geographic boundaries as the existing area code. In this case, the 704 code has been Overlayed with the 980 area code. New phone numbers in the Shelby area will be assigned with one of these codes: 704 or 980. As a result, placing a call in the Shelby area will require 10-digit dialing (where you enter both the area code and then the phone number).
<5>ZIP Codes have been created by the United States Postal Service (USPS) as a way of grouping addresses to make delivery more efficient. The boundaries of the ZIP Code can be changed, re-assigned, eliminated or overlapped with other ZIP Codes. So keep in mind that any given ZIP Code is only 'loosely' associated with a city (such as Shelby). When looking for a ZIP Code, whether Shelby or elsewhere, it's always best to check the website of the United States Postal Service (USPS).
<6>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<7>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.
<8>A copy of their list with background information can be found at:

      https://cblevins.github.io/us-post-offices/data-biography/




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 28 Apr 2025