Fairplains is a census-designated place (CDP) in Wilkes County, North Carolina, United States.

The community was named "fairplains" because it was located at the geographic point where the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains begin to level off to the gently rolling Piedmont region of central North Carolina.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 4.2 square miles (11 km2), all land.

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 2,029 people, 974 households, and 511 families residing in the CDP.

27.4% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.