Overview of Area

With a land area of a mere 199 square miles, there is only one county smaller than New Hanover in the field of 100 counties in the state of North Carolina. Don’t be fooled by it’s small size, though. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the coastal county of New Hanover grew nearly 24 percent overall since 2000, surpassing the state’s 21.4 percent growth rate. The fast growth is displayed heartily in the population number of 2008 when the 192,538 residents was a 60% increase from 1990. Wilmington takes the lion’s share of that number, housing around 52 percent of the total persons in New Hanover County. For more information on specific demographics of the area, look up the most recent United States Census.