North Carolina ranked 11th in population in the US with an estimated total of 8,320,146 in 2002, an increase of 3.4 % since 2000. Between 1990 and 2000, North Carolina's population grew from 6,628,637 to 8,049,313, an increase of 21.4%, making North Carolina the 6th-fastest-growing state of the decade. The population is projected to reach 9.3 million by 2025. The population density in 2000 was 165.2 persons per sq mi.
At the time of the first census in 1790, North Carolina ranked 3rd among the 13 states, with a population of 393,751, but it slipped to 10th by 1850. In the decades that followed, North Carolina grew slowly by natural increase and suffered from net out-migration, while the rest of the nation expanded rapidly. Out-migration abated after 1890, however, and North Carolina's overall growth rate in the 20th century was slightly greater than that of the nation as a whole.
As of 2000, the state's population had a median age of 35.3. In the same year, 24.4% of the populace were under the age of 18 while 12% were age 65 or older. Most North Carolinians live in and around a relatively large number of small and medium-sized cities and towns, many of which are concentrated in the Piedmont Crescent, between Charlotte, Greensboro, and Raleigh. Leading cities in 2002 were Charlotte, 580,597; Raleigh, 306,944; Greensboro, 228,217; Durham, 195,914; Winston-Salem, 188,934. The Charlotte metropolitan area had an estimated 1,417,217 people in 1999.