Charlotte is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 15th-most populous city in the United States, the seventh-most populous city in the South, and the second-most populous city in the Southeast behind Jacksonville, Florida. The city is the cultural, economic, and transportation center of the Charlotte metropolitan area, whose estimated 2023 population of 2,805,115 ranked 22nd in the United States. The Charlotte metropolitan area is part of an eighteen-county market region or combined statistical area with an estimated 2023 population of 3,387,115.

North Carolina is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia to the southwest, and Tennessee to the west. The state is the 28th-largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. Along with South Carolina, it makes up the Carolinas region of the East Coast. At the 2020 census, the state had a population of 10,439,388. Raleigh is the state's capital and Charlotte is its most populous city. The Charlotte metropolitan area, with an estimated population of 2,805,115 in 2023, is the most populous metropolitan area in North Carolina, the 22nd-most populous in the United States, and the largest banking center in the nation after New York City. The Research Triangle, with an estimated population of 2,368,947 in 2023, is the second-most populous combined metropolitan area in the state, 31st-most populous in the United States, and is home to the largest research park in the United States, Research Triangle Park.