North Carolina Highway 97 (NC 97) is a primary state highway in the U.S. state of North Carolina, connecting the cities of Zebulon and Rocky Mount with the vast rural coastal plains.

Through Wake County, the route closely parallels US 64, following it 1⁄2 mile (0.80 km) to the south.

After passing through the unincorporated community of Lizard Lick, NC 97 merges with US 64 Business and forms the main east–west street through the town of Zebulon, Gannon Avenue.

[1] There have been three designations of NC 97 since the creation of the North Carolina State Highway System in 1921.

From Pantego, the highway followed a graded roadway to the northwest before making a turn slightly to the northeast as it neared the Beaufort–Washington County line.

[11] At the time of establishment, all of NC 97 was paved except for an 11 miles (18 km) segment south of Powellsville which was classified as a gravel road.

From Winton, the highway followed a concurrency with US 158 for six miles (nine point seven kilometres) until splitting onto its own routing west of Roduco.

[16] In 1933, NC 95 was extended south along US 301/NC 40 through Rocky Mount, then west on new routing to US 64/US 264/NC 39/NC 90/NC 91 in Zebulon.