Chapel Hill is a town in Orange and Durham counties in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Its population was 57,233 in the 2010 census, making Chapel Hill the 15th-largest city in the state. Chapel Hill, Durham, and the state capital, Raleigh, make up the corners of the Research Triangle, with a total population of 1,998,808.The town was founded in 1793 and is centered on Franklin Street, covering 21.3 square miles. It contains several districts and buildings listed on the National Register of Historic Places as well as the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, UNC Health Care, and many murals.