Kinston, North Carolina

Kinston population, 2020 to 2024

Kinston lost 244 residents from July 2020 to July 2024, a change of -1.2%. In the latest year it moved by +88. Among 147 North Carolina places of 5,000 or more, that growth ranks 138th; the median place changed by +4.7%. The median place of 5,000+ in North Carolina has 14,573 people, so Kinston is 1.3 times that size.

Kinston covers 18.28 square miles of land and 0.15 of water, for 1,068 people per square mile of land. The median North Carolina place of 5,000+ has 1,316, so Kinston is less dense than the typical town.

What county Kinston is in

All of Kinston's residents live in Lenoir County, which had 55,332 residents in 2024. Kinston holds 35.3% of the county's population. The shaded shape is on the map above; dots mark the eight nearest places.

ZIP codes in Kinston

2 ZIP Code Tabulation Areas (ZCTAs) overlap Kinston by at least 10% of the ZCTA's or the city's land: 28501, 28504. ZCTAs are Census approximations of USPS ZIP code delivery areas. The list comes from the 2020 ZCTA to place relationship file, so a city that annexed land after 2020 may reach into ZIP codes not listed here.

Where Kinston is

The Census internal point of Kinston is at 35.275100, -77.593400. Raleigh, the capital, is 68.4 miles WNW in a straight line. The nearest larger place is Goldsboro, NC (34,629 people), 22.5 miles away. The nearest city of 100,000 or more is Raleigh, NC, 70.3 miles away.

Daylight in Kinston

At 35.28° N, Kinston gets about 14 h 32 min of daylight around the June solstice and 9 h 47 min around the December solstice, a swing of 4 h 46 min. Figures are sunrise to sunset from the SunCalc model for June 21 and December 21, 2026.

Places near Kinston

The eight nearest incorporated places of 1,000+ in North Carolina, measured between internal points. The closest is Grifton, 11.2 miles away, with 2,514 people.