Gaston County Courthouse - District#27A

Gaston County is a county located just west of Charlotte (Mecklenburg County) in the southern Piedmont in the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the third largest county, by population, in the Charlotte Metropolitan Area, officially designated the Charlotte-Gastonia-Rock Hill Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of 2010, the population was 206,086. It is the fourth-largest county in the Charlotte metropolitan area behind Mecklenburg County, York County, SC and Union County.

The county seat of Gaston County is Gastonia. Dallas served as the original county seat from 1846 until 1911.

Of North Carolina's one hundred counties, Gaston County ranks 74th in size, consisting of approximately 364.5 square miles (944 km2), and is seventh in population. The county has fifteen incorporated towns.