North Carolina's 1st congressional district is located in the northeastern part of the state.

It covers many rural areas of northeastern North Carolina, among the state's most economically poor, as well as outer exurbs of urbanized Research Triangle.

It contains towns and cities such as Greenville, Rocky Mount, Wilson, Goldsboro, Henderson, and Roanoke Rapids.

On February 5, 2016, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled the 1st district, as well as the 12th, were gerrymandered along racial lines, which was unconstitutional, and must be redrawn by March 15, 2016.

[3] It was re-drawn again in 2019 following court-mandated redistricting, which removed portions of the Research Triangle from the district and changed it to D+3 from a D+17 on the Cook Partisan Voting Index.