Catawba County is a county located just northwest of Charlotte, North Carolina. Originally inhabited by the Native American tribe of the Catawba, it was formed from its neighboring county, Lincoln. Famed for its history in the furniture manufacturing business the Catawba County area continues to grow and diversify as part of the greater Charlotte Metro area.
As of 2010, the population was 154,358. Its county seat is Newton and its largest city is Hickory. Catawba County is part of the data center corridor. Maiden, NC is home to the Apple iCloud data center, and the largest solar farm in the United States. Conover, NC is home to the ncDataCampus.