[2] Northampton County is part of the Roanoke Rapids, NC Micropolitan Statistical Area, which is also included in the Rocky Mount-Wilson-Roanoke Rapids, NC Combined Statistical Area.

The area was first organized under English colonial authority as the Albemarle Precinct.

In 1959, the county went to the U.S. Supreme Court to defend the use of a literacy test as a requirement to vote.

In Lassiter v. Northampton County Board of Elections, the court held that, provided the tests were applied equally to all races and were not "merely a device to make racial discrimination easy," they were allowable.

[4] Congress subsequently prohibited use of such tests under the National Voting Rights Act of 1965.

28.40% of all households were made up of individuals, and 13.20% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.

Northampton County is a member of the regional Upper Coastal Plain Council of Governments.

[17][18] Northampton County is part of North Carolina's 1st congressional district, which has a Cook Partisan Voting Index of R+1 and has been represented by a Democratic Congressman since 1899.

In the North Carolina Senate, Northampton County lies within the 3rd district, represented by Republican Bobby Hanig.