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Wilmington is a port city in New Hanover County, North Carolina, United States. With a population of 115,451 as of the 2020 census, it is the eighth-most populous city in the state.^[7] The county seat of New Hanover County, it is the principal city of the Wilmington metropolitan area, which includes New Hanover, Brunswick, and Pender counties.^[8] As of 2023, the region had an estimated population of 467,337.^[6]

Wilmington’s residential area lies between the Cape Fear River and the Atlantic Ocean, and the city developed as a commercial port in the colonial era. The city was founded in the 1730s, preceded in its foundation in the area by Brunswick Town and Charles Towne. These two towns were abandoned, leaving Wilmington as the main settlement on the Cape Fear River. After going through a series of different names (New Carthage, New London, Newton), its name became Wilmington.^[9] In 1739, Colonel William Bartram, the uncle of the naturalist, introduced a bill to establish Wilmington, named for one of his patrons, Spencer Compton, 1st Earl of Wilmington.^[9][10] Toward the end of the 19th century, Wilmington was a majority-black, racially integrated, prosperous city – and the most populous in North Carolina. It suffered what became known as the Wilmington massacre in 1898, when white supremacists launched a coup that overthrew the legitimately elected local Fusionist government.^[11] It resulted in the expulsion of opposition black and white political leaders from the city, destruction of the property and businesses of black citizens, including the city’s only black newspaper, and deaths ranging from an estimated 60 to more than 300 people.^[11][12][13] By 1910, Charlotte overtook Wilmington as North Carolina’s most populous city.

Wilmington’s downtown includes a 1.75-mile (2.82 km) riverwalk,^[14] developed as a tourist attraction in the late 20th century. In 2003, the city was designated by the U.S. Congress as a “Coast Guard City”, one of 29 cities that currently bear that designation.^[15] It was formerly the home port for the USCGC Diligence, a United States Coast Guard medium-endurance cutter.^[16][17] Wilmington was declared the first World War II Heritage City in the country in 2020. The World War II battleship USS North Carolina, now a war memorial, is moored across from the downtown port area, and is open to the public for tours.^[18] Other attractions include the Cape Fear Museum of History and Science and the Children’s Museum of Wilmington.^[19]

The city is home to the University of North Carolina Wilmington.^[20] Wilmington is also the home of Cinespace Wilmington,^[a] the largest domestic television and movie production facility outside California.^[24] Dream Stage 10, the facility’s newest sound stage, is the third-largest in the United States. It houses the largest special-effects water tank in North America.^[25] After the studio complex’s opening in 1984, Wilmington became a major center of American film and television production. Numerous movies and television series—in a range of genres—have been filmed/produced in or near the city. Films include Blue Velvet (1986), Maximum Overdrive (1986), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990), Super Mario Bros. (1993), The Crow (1994), I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997), The Conjuring (2013), Iron Man 3 (2013), The Black Phone (2021), Halloween Kills (2021) and Scream (2022),^[26][27] and television series include Dawson’s Creek, One Tree Hill, Eastbound & Down, Outer Banks and The Summer I Turned Pretty.^[28][29]