Chatham County, North Carolina

Chatham County is a county in the U.S. state of North Carolina. In 2020, 76,285 people lived there.^[1] Its county seat is Pittsboro.

Chatham County
County
Chatham County Courthouse in Pittsboro
Location within the U.S. state of North Carolina
North Carolina's location within the U.S.
Coordinates: 35°42′18″N 79°15′05″W
Country	United States
State	North Carolina
Founded	1771
Named for	William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham
Seat	Pittsboro
Largest community	Siler City
Area
• Total	708.93 sq mi (1,836.1 km2)
• Land	681.68 sq mi (1,765.5 km2)
• Water	27.25 sq mi (70.6 km2)  3.84%
Population  (2020)
• Total	76,285
• Density	111.91/sq mi (43.21/km2)
Time zone	UTC−5 (Eastern)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−4 (EDT)
Congressional district	9th
Website	www.chathamcountync.gov

History

The county was made in 1771 from Orange County.

In 1907 parts of Chatham County and Moore County were combined to form Lee County.

Government

Chatham County is part of the regional Triangle J Council of Governments.

Schools

Chatham County has its own public school system for grades kindergarten to 12. Central Carolina Community College also has two campuses in the county.

Coal Mines

Chatham County has the only coal mines in North Carolina. Coal mining used to be very important to the county, but in the 1920s a bad accident in one of the mines killed many workers. By the 1940s all the mines had closed. Some people have tried to open the mines back up, but the mines are too dangerous. Right now none of the mines are open.

New Houses

Many builders are building new houses in Chatham County right now. Some people in the county do not like this because they do not want Chatham County to have a lot of people. A lot of people want to live in Chatham County because they do not have to pay as much tax as people in other North Carolina counties do. But other people think it is good that a lot of people want to live in the county because then the county will make more money from taxes.

Connected Counties

• Orange County, North Carolina - north
• Durham County, North Carolina - northeast
• Wake County, North Carolina - east
• Harnett County, North Carolina - southeast
• Lee County, North Carolina - south
• Moore County, North Carolina - southwest
• Randolph County, North Carolina - west
• Alamance County, North Carolina - northwest

Cities and Towns

These cities and towns are in Chatham County:

• Fearrington
• Goldston
• Pittsboro
• Siler City

Roads

These are the most important roads in Chatham County:

• U.S. Highway 64
• U.S. Highway 421
• U.S. Highway 15-501