Welcome to Charlotte!

 

Charlotte is the largest city in the state of North Carolina. It is the county seat of Mecklenburg County and the second largest city in the southeastern United States, just behind Jacksonville, Florida. Charlotte is the third fastest growing major city in the United States. In 2014, the estimated population of Charlotte according to the U.S. Census Bureau was 809,958, making it the 17th largest city in the United States based on population. The Charlotte metropolitan area ranks 22nd largest in the US and had a 2014 population of 2,380,314. The Charlotte metropolitan area is part of a sixteen-county market region or combined statistical area with a 2014 U.S. Census population estimate of 2,537,990. Residents of Charlotte are referred to as "Charlotteans." It is listed as a "gamma-plus" global city by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network.

 

The city is a major U.S. financial center, the second largest financial center by assets following New York City. Bank of America and the East Coast operations of Wells Fargo are headquartered here. Charlotte is also home of the Carolina Panthers of the National Football League, the Charlotte Hornets of the National Basketball Association, the Charlotte Knights which is a AAA affiliate of Major League Baseball's Chicago White Sox, the Charlotte Checkers which is an AHL affiliate of the National Hockey Lleague's Carolina Hurricanes, the Charlotte Hounds of Major League Lacrosse, two NASCAR Sprint Cup races and the NASCAR All-Star Race, the Wells Fargo Golf Championship, the NASCAR Hall of Fame, Carowinds amusement park and the U.S. National Whitewater Center.

 

Nicknamed the Queen City, Charlotte and its resident county are named in honor of Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, who had become queen consort of Great Britain the year before the city's founding. A second nickname derives from the American Revolutionary War, when British commander General Cornwallis occupied the city but was driven out by hostile residents, prompting him to write that Charlotte was "a hornet's nest of rebellion", leading to the nickname The Hornet's Nest.

 

Charlotte has a humid subtropical climate and is located several miles east of the Catawba River and southeast of Lake Norman, the largest man-made lake in North Carolina. Lake Wylie and Mountain Island Lake are two smaller man-made lakes located near the city. And the best part of all...the Appalachian mountains are only two hours to the west and the white sandy beaches of the Atlantic ocean are only three hours to the east.