Beaufort County was the site of a proposed Navy outlying landing field.

This practice airfield would have allow pilots to simulate landings on an aircraft carrier.

25.70% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.50% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.

It voted Democratic consistently up through 1964, even resisting the lure of voting against Al Smith’s Catholic faith and opposition to Prohibition in 1928 when North Carolina went Republican for the only time between 1876 and 1964.

Since then, Beaufort has been a strongly Republican county, with the last Democrat to carry it being Jimmy Carter in 1976.

Beaufort County is a member of the Mid-East Commission regional council of governments.

The population ranking of the following table is based on the 2020 census of Beaufort County.