Hickory is a city located primarily in Catawba County, North Carolina, with parts in adjoining Burke and Caldwell counties. The city's population at the 2010 census was 40,010, with an estimated population in 2015 of 40,374. Hickory is the principal city in the Hickory?Lenoir?Morganton MSA, in which the population at the 2010 census was 365,497 and is included as part of the Charlotte?Concord Combined Statistical Area.