Hickory is a city in North Carolina primarily located in Catawba County. It is the 25th most populous city in North Carolina, with its formal boundaries extending into Burke and Caldwell counties. It is located approximately 60 mi northwest of Charlotte. Hickory's population in the 2022 United States Census Bureau estimate was 44,084. Hickory is the main city of the Hickory–Lenoir–Morganton Metropolitan Statistical Area, which had a population of 368,347 in the 2022 census.