Huntersville, North Carolina

Huntersville is a suburban town in northern Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, United States.

History and etymology

Originally named "Craighead", the town was renamed to honor Robert Boston Hunter, a local cotton farmer and land owner. The town was incorporated in 1873.

Geography

Huntersville is in northern Mecklenburg County, bordered to the south by Charlotte and to the north by the town of Cornelius. The town has several exclaves to the east, some bordered to the north by the town of Davidson and some bordered to the east by the city of Concord in Cabarrus County.

Huntersville is located north of Uptown Charlotte.

| footnote = U.S. Decennial Census<br/>2020

| align = right

| align-fn = center

2020 census

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:right"

|+Huntersville racial composition

!scope="col"| Race

!scope="col"| Number

!scope="col"| Percentage

!scope="row"| White (non-Hispanic)

| 42,816

| 69.76%

!scope="row"| Black or African American (non-Hispanic)

| 7,203

| 11.74%

!scope="row"| Native American

| 117

| 0.19%

!scope="row"| Asian

| 2,545

| 4.15%

!scope="row"| Pacific Islander

| 9

| 0.01%

!scope="row"| Other/Mixed

| 2,740

| 4.46%

!scope="row"| Hispanic or Latino

| 5,946

| 9.69%

As of the 2020 census, Huntersville had a population of 61,376. The median age was 37.5 years. 26.0% of residents were under the age of 18 and 11.3% of residents were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 94.3 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 91.0 males age 18 and over.

There were 23,037 households in Huntersville, of which 38.3% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 58.8% were married-couple households, 13.2% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 22.2% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 22.0% of all households were made up of individuals and 6.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. As of the 2020 census, there were 14,960 families residing in the town.

2010 census

At the 2010 census, Males had a median income of $53,553 versus $33,877 for females. The per capita income for the town was $30,256. 3.1% of the population and 1.9% of families were below the poverty line.

Economy

Joe Gibbs Racing is based in Huntersville. The team has five NASCAR Cup Series drivers championships with Bobby Labonte, Tony Stewart and Kyle Busch, and has won over 190 Cup races.

Arts and culture

Museums

Discovery Place Kids-Huntersville
EnergyExplorium at McGuire Nuclear Station
Holly Bend
Hugh Torance House & Store
Latta Place

Festivals and events

The Carolina Renaissance Festival operates Saturdays and Sundays in October and November.

Library

thumb|right|The North County branch (located in Huntersville) of the Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County

Huntersville and the surrounding area is served by the North County Regional branch of the Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County.

Parks and recreation

The town is known recreationally as a lake community because of its proximity to Lake Norman, a large man-made lake created by Duke Power to serve the nuclear power plant, and Mountain Island Lake, a smaller man-made lake that is used as Charlotte's city water source and located along the southwest border of Huntersville. The lakes attract both boaters and water-skiers from several surrounding states. Huntersville is also home to one private golf course, NorthStone Country Club and two Semi-Private courses; Skybrook Golf Club and Birkdale Golf Course.

Government

The town is governed by an elected mayor and a board of commissioners and elections are officially conducted on a non-partisan basis. Elections are held every two years with the mayor and commissioners being elected separately. There is no primary election for either mayor or the board of commissioners. Voters are allowed to vote for up to six commissioner candidates and the six candidates receiving the highest number of votes are elected.

The current mayor and town board after the November 7, 2023, election: Mayor Christy Clark and Commissioners Jennifer Hunt, Nick Walsh, Edwin Quarles, Alisia Bergsman, Amanda Dumas, and LaToya Rivers.

Education

School age children in Huntersville attending public schools are part of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools system.

Elementary schools

Barnette Elementary
Legette Blythe Elementary
Huntersville Elementary
Torrence Creek Elementary
Grand Oak Elementary
Long Creek Elementary School
Hornets Nest Elementary School
Trillium Springs Montessori

Middle schools

John M. Alexander Middle School
Francis Bradley Middle
Bailey Middle in Cornelius has an attendance boundary that includes a section of Huntersville

High schools

Hopewell High School
North Mecklenburg High School
William A. Hough High School in Cornelius has a boundary that includes a section of Huntersville.

Charter schools

Lake Norman Charter School
Bonnie Cone Classical Academy
Aspire Trade High School

Private schools

Children's Community School
SouthLake Christian Academy
St Mark Catholic School
Christ the King Catholic High School
Cannon School
The Halton School

Post secondary

Central Piedmont Community College (Merancas Campus)

Media

The town is served by six weekly newspapers, including The Herald Citizen.

Infrastructure

Transportation

Huntersville is one of three towns (the others are Cornelius and Davidson) located north of Charlotte but still within Mecklenburg County. These three towns make up the area known as "North Meck". Express bus transportation and an interstate with HOV lanes that end south of Huntersville provide access to the downtown business areas of Charlotte.

Two exits from Interstate 77 serve Huntersville. Exit 23 (Gilead Road) connects the expressway with the original town. Exit 25 (North Carolina Highway 73, but most often referred to as Sam Furr Road) provides access to the Birkdale Village area and shopping, medical, and office complexes that have been built since the exit opened.

U.S. Highway 21 (Statesville Road) and North Carolina Highway 115 (Old Statesville Road) are the two main north–south arterial roads through the town. These two routes complement I-77 south to Charlotte and north to Mooresville and Statesville, which are both in adjacent Iredell County.

Notable people

Elizabeth Bradford, painter
Harrison Burton, NASCAR driver
Chris Cole, Libertarian Party activist in North Carolina
Luke Combs, country singer and songwriter
Brandyn Curry, professional basketball player
Blake Koch, NASCAR driver and businessman
Ann Michael Maye, baker and social media influencer, wife of New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye
Drake Maye, NFL quarterback for the New England Patriots
Luke Maye, professional basketball player, 2017 NCAA champion with North Carolina
Cameron Moore, Christian pop singer/songwriter
Bailey Ober, MLB pitcher
Elliot Panicco, professional soccer player
Reneé Rapp, actress and singer
Ryder Ryan, baseball player
Drew P. Saunders, former member of the North Carolina General Assembly
Ben Shields, former Major League Baseball pitcher
Andrea Stinson, former WNBA player
Daniel Suárez, NASCAR driver
Thom Tillis, U.S. senator; former Speaker of the North Carolina House of Representatives
Jim Vandiver, NASCAR Winston Cup Series driver from 1968 to 1983
Hoyt Wilhelm, Major League Baseball pitcher and member of the National Baseball Hall of Fame