Hickory

Hickory is a city in North Carolina primarily located in Catawba County. It is the 24th most populous city in North Carolina, with its formal boundaries extending into Burke and Caldwell counties. It is located approximately 60 miles northwest of Charlotte. Hickory's population in the 2020 census was 43,490. Hickory is the main city of the Hickory–Lenoir–Morganton Metropolitan Statistical Area, which had a population of 365,276 in the 2020 census.

In 2014, Reader's Digest named the Hickory metro area as the 10th best place to live and raise a family in the United States. Forbes named the Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton MSA the third best MSA in the country for business cost. The Hickory MSA was also identified by Smart Growth America in 2014 as being the country's most sprawling metro area.