Sanford, North Carolina

Sanford population, 2020 to 2024

Sanford added 2,740 residents from July 2020 to July 2024, a change of +9.1%. In the latest year it moved by +743. Among 147 North Carolina places of 5,000 or more, that growth ranks 34th; the median place changed by +4.7%. The median place of 5,000+ in North Carolina has 14,573 people, so Sanford is 2.3 times that size.

Sanford covers 33.18 square miles of land and 0.28 of water, for 994 people per square mile of land. The median North Carolina place of 5,000+ has 1,316, so Sanford is less dense than the typical town.

What county Sanford is in

All of Sanford's residents live in Lee County, which had 68,537 residents in 2024. Sanford holds 48.1% of the county's population. The shaded shape is on the map above; dots mark the eight nearest places.

ZIP codes in Sanford

2 ZIP Code Tabulation Areas (ZCTAs) overlap Sanford by at least 10% of the ZCTA's or the city's land: 27330, 27332. 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 Sanford is

The Census internal point of Sanford is at 35.493800, -79.176500. Raleigh, the capital, is 36.1 miles ENE in a straight line. The nearest larger place is Holly Springs, NC (48,674 people), 21.9 miles away. The nearest city of 100,000 or more is Cary, NC, 28.1 miles away.

Daylight in Sanford

At 35.49° N, Sanford gets about 14 h 34 min of daylight around the June solstice and 9 h 45 min around the December solstice, a swing of 4 h 48 min. Figures are sunrise to sunset from the SunCalc model for June 21 and December 21, 2026.

Places near Sanford

The eight nearest incorporated places of 1,000+ in North Carolina, measured between internal points. The closest is Broadway, 7.2 miles away, with 1,362 people.