252 Area Code 🌍☎️

Greenville is the county seat and most populous city in Pitt County, North Carolina, with a 2020 census population of 87,521 and an estimated 2025 population of 96,184, making it the 12th-largest city in the state and principal city of its metropolitan statistical area. Founded in 1771 as Martinsborough and renamed Greenville in 1786 after American Revolutionary War general Nathanael Greene, the city evolved from a major cotton and tobacco export center in the 19th century to an educational and healthcare hub anchored by East Carolina University (established 1907, renamed ECU in 1967 with over 29,000 students) and ECU Health Medical Center, the second-largest hospital in North Carolina. Greenville's economic boom began in 1963 with the establishment of the Greenville Industrial Park and accelerated after 1968 when pharmaceutical firm Burroughs Wellcome (now Patheon/Thermo Fisher Scientific) located a major facility employing approximately 1,200 people, attracting regional, national, and international headquarters for companies including Grady-White Boats, Hyster-Yale Materials Handling, and Catalent. The city serves as the health, entertainment, and educational hub for North Carolina's Tidewater and Coastal Plain region and has experienced significant economic and population growth since the 1990s. In September 1999, Hurricane Floyd devastated the area with nearly 17 inches of rain, causing the Tar River to exceed 500-year flood levels along its lower stretches. Rocky Mount is a city straddling Nash and Edgecombe counties in North Carolina with a population of 54,341 as of the 2020 census, making it the state's 20th-most populous city and the principal city of the Rocky Mount metropolitan area ("Twin Counties"), which had an estimated population of 145,383 in 2023. The area was inhabited by indigenous peoples for 12,000 years before English and Scots traders arrived in the mid-1700s, and the city was officially incorporated in 1867 after being established as a post office in 1816 near the falls of the Tar River. Rocky Mount's 19th-century economy was built on agriculture (cotton and tobacco), textile manufacturing powered by the Tar River falls, and the arrival of the Wilmington and Weldon Railroad in 1839, which connected the region to major ports in Virginia and Wilmington. Since the late 20th century, the city's economy has diversified into biomedical pharmaceuticals, manufacturing, and logistics. Rocky Mount earned the National Civic League's All-America City Award twice, in 1969 and 1999, reflecting its community development and civic achievements. Wilson is the county seat of Wilson County and the 23rd most populous city in North Carolina, with a 2020 population of 47,851 located approximately 40 miles east of Raleigh at the intersection of Interstate 95 and U.S. Route 264. Originally founded as Toisnot around an early 1800s church and chartered in 1840 after the Wilmington and Raleigh Railroad arrived in 1839, the city was named for state senator Colonel Louis D. Wilson and grew to become known as "The World's Greatest Tobacco Market" in the 19th century. The city experienced over 40 percent population growth between 1990 and 2010, driven by suburban development and new retail construction, and serves as an anchor city of the Rocky Mount-Wilson-Roanoke Rapids metropolitan area with a combined population of 297,726 as of 2018. Wilson is a diverse community, with the 2012 census showing 48 percent African American, 43 percent white, and 9 percent Latino and Asian residents, including significant Vietnamese, Chinese, and Indian populations. Today, Wilson's economy encompasses agriculture, manufacturing, commercial, and service industries, with multiple historic districts and landmarks listed on the National Register of Historic Places reflecting its cultural heritage.