Mount Airy is a city in Surry County, North Carolina, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 10,388. Mount Airy was settled in the 1750s as a stagecoach stop on the road between Winston-Salem and Galax, Virginia. It was named for a nearby plantation. Mount Airy was incorporated in 1885. Mount Airy is located at 36°30′3″N 80°36′34″W / 36.50083°N 80.60944°W / 36.50083; -80.60944 (36.500756, -80.609311), along the Ararat River. The United States Census Bureau says the city has a total area of 8.4 square miles (21.7 km²), all of it land.