Hickory is a city located primarily in Catawba County, with formal boundaries extending into Burke and Caldwell counties. The city lies in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Hickory's population at the 2010 census was 40,010, with an estimated population in 2019 of 41,171. Hickory is the principal city in the Hickory–Lenoir–Morganton MSA, in which the population at the 2020 census was 365,276 and is located just northwest of the Charlotte–Concord Combined Statistical Area.