Rocky Mount is a city in Nash and Edgecombe counties in the U.S. state of North Carolina. The city's population was 54,341 as of the 2020 census, making it the 20th-most populous city in North Carolina. The city is 45 mi east of Raleigh, the state capital. It is the principal city of the Rocky Mount metropolitan area—often called the "Twin Counties"—which had an estimated population of 145,383 in 2023.