Lee County is a county located in the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of the 2010 census, the population was 57,866. The county seat is Sanford. It was established on March 6, 1907, from parts of Chatham and Moore counties, and named for General Robert E. Lee, who served as the General in Chief of the Armies of the Confederate States in 1865.Lee County comprises the Sanford Micropolitan Statistical Area, which is a part of the greater Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill, NC Combined Statistical Area, which had a 2012 estimated population of 1,998,808.GeographyAccording to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of, of which is land and (1.6%) is water.Adjacent countiesChatham County - northHarnett County - southeastMoore County - southwest