Admitted to the Union on November 21, 1789 as the 12th state.
- 1790 federal census extant for all counties except Caswell, Granville, and Orange.
- 1800 federal census extant for all counties.
- 1810 federal census extant for all counties except Craven, Greene, New Hanover, and Wake.
- 1820 federal census extant for all counties except Currituck, Franklin, Martin, Montgomery, Randolph, and Wake.
- 1830 – 1940 federal censuses extant for all counties except for 1890 (see below).
- 1890 federal census lost for all counties except parts of Gaston County (South Point and River Bend Townships) and Cleveland County (Township No. 2).
| Alamance | Alexander | Alleghany | Anson |
| Ashe | Avery | Beaufort | Bertie |
| Bladen | Brunswick | Buncombe | Burke |
| Cabarrus | Caldwell | Camden | Carteret |
| Caswell | Catawba | Chatham | Cherokee |
| Chowan | Clay | Cleveland | Columbus |
| Craven | Cumberland | Currituck | Dare |
| Davidson | Davie | Duplin | Durham |
| Edgecombe | Forsyth | Franklin | Gaston |
| Gates | Graham | Granville | Greene |
| Guilford | Halifax | Harnett | Haywood |
| Henderson | Hertford | Hoke | Hyde |
| Iredell | Jackson | Johnston | Jones |
| Lee | Lenoir | Lincoln | McDowell |
| Macon | Madison | Martin | Mecklenburg |
| Mitchell | Montgomery | Moore | Nash |
| New Hanover | Northampton | Onslow | Orange |
| Pamlico | Pasquotank | Pender | Perquimans |
| Person | Pitt | Polk | Randolph |
| Richmond | Robeson | Rockingham | Rowan |
| Rutherford | Sampson | Scotland | Stanly |
| Stokes | Surry | Swain | Transylvania |
| Tyrrell | Union | Vance | Wake |
| Warren | Washington | Watauga | Wayne |
| Wilkes | Wilson | Yadkin | Yancey |