Burke County population edges up to 88,655 in latest Census estimate

Burke County continued to grow modestly in the latest U.S. Census Bureau estimates, even as new national figures show population growth slowing across many cities and towns.

The findings come from the U.S. Census Bureau’s Vintage 2025 population estimates, released May 14. A Vintage estimate is the Census Bureau’s annually updated version of population estimates.

Burke County’s estimated population was 88,655 as of July 1, 2025, according to the Census Bureau’s Vintage 2025 population estimate. That is up 1.2% from the county’s April 1, 2020, estimates base of 87,570.

The numbers point to a familiar local pattern: Burke County is not shrinking, but it also is not seeing the rapid growth found in parts of North Carolina’s larger metropolitan areas.

That matters for local planning because population trends shape decisions about housing, water and sewer capacity, school enrollment, transportation, retail recruitment, and municipal tax bases.

The Census Bureau’s latest city and town release found that population growth slowed nationally between July 1, 2024, and July 1, 2025, with the largest cities showing the steepest drop-offs. Midsized cities, by contrast, stayed closer to their previous-year growth patterns.

For Burke County’s municipalities, the most publication-safe local figures currently available from Census QuickFacts and the prior city and town estimates are 2024 figures, not 2025 figures.

Morganton, the county seat and Burke County’s largest municipality, had an estimated population of 17,825 as of July 1, 2024.

Other Burke County municipalities remained much smaller and showed only modest recent changes in the 2024 municipal estimates previously used in the draft: Valdese, Drexel, Hildebran, Connelly Springs, Glen Alpine, and Rutherford College all remained small towns rather than high-growth population centers.

— AVN