The latest Census population estimates show that nine out of 10 municipalities in Alamance County added residents between 2023 and 2025.
Overall, the county added 7,012 new residents between July 2023 and July 2025, for an overall growth rate of 3.9 percent, and remained the 15th most populous county among the state’s 100 counties, based on a breakdown from the North Carolina Office of State Budget & Management (OSBM).
The city of Burlington remained the county’s largest municipality, with a total population of 61,496 residents, making it the 19th most populous city among 550 incorporated municipalities in North Carolina as of July 2025, according to an analysis by the state demographer’s office.
Among the nine municipalities that added residents between 2023 and 2025, Burlington experienced the smallest percentage gain (2.4 percent), adding 1,464 new residents during the same period (see accompanying chart).
The city of Graham experienced the largest population increase, in terms of headcount and percentage change, since the Census Bureau’s estimates were released in July 2023.
Graham added 1,777 new residents, for a growth rate of 9.7 percent between 2023 and 2025, and a total population of 21,952 residents, according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates as of July 1, 2025.
Mebane, however, had the largest population among the county’s eight smaller municipalities as of July 2025, adding 1,740 new residents between 2023 and 2025, for an overall growth rate of 8.6 percent.
Mebane remained the 48th fastest-growing city among 550 incorporated municipalities in North Carolina between 2020 and 2025; and Graham was the 52nd fastest-growing municipality in the state during that time.
The town of Gibsonville had the third-highest growth rate, percentage-wise, at 4.5 percent, among small municipalities in the county, adding 380 residents (for a total of 9,876 people) between 2023 and 2025.
Elon was the only incorporated municipality in the county where the population declined between 2023 and 2025. Elon’s population decreased by 154 residents (-1.3 percent), from 11,520 in July 2023 to 11,366 residents as of July 1, 2025.
The unincorporated portions of Alamance County also grew by 1,462 residents, from 49,790 to 51,252 residents, between 2023 and 2025, though unincorporated areas represented the smallest overall growth rate of 2.9 percent.
Alamance County’s total population increased by 3.9 percent, adding 7,012 new residents between July 2023 and July 2025.
[Story continues below chart of population growth by area.]
Meanwhile, Wake and Mecklenburg counties continue to be the two most populous in the state, with 1.3 million and 1.2 million residents, respectively, as of July 2025.
The town of Wendell in Wake County had the state’s largest percentage gain (17.8 percent) in population, doubling in population from 9,841 residents in 2020 to 19,687 residents in 2025, according to analysis released Wednesday by the state demographer’s office. The town of Garner, also in Wake County, placed as the 10th-fastest growing municipality in the nation last year, based on the analysis published late last month by Carolina Demography.
North Carolina was the third fastest-growing state in the U.S. behind Texas and Florida between 2020 and 2024, according to an earlier report from Carolina Demography.
[Editor’s Note: Previous charts with previous population growth statistics shown below.]
