Beaufort (/ˈboʊfərt/ BOH-fərt) is a town in and the county seat of Carteret County, North Carolina, United States. Established in 1709, Beaufort is the third-oldest town in North Carolina (after Bath and Edenton). On February 1, 2012, Beaufort was ranked as "America's Coolest Small Town" by readers of Budget Travel Magazine.

The population was 4,039 at the 2010 census. It is sometimes confused with a city of the same name in South Carolina; the two are distinguished by different pronunciations.

Beaufort is located in North Carolina's "Inner Banks" region. The town is home to the North Carolina Maritime Museum, the Duke University Marine Laboratory (Nicholas School of the Environment), and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Center for Coastal Fisheries and Habitat Research. It is also the location of the Rachel Carson Coastal Reserve.

The Beaufort Historic District, Carteret County Home, Gibbs House, Jacob Henry House, and Old Burying Ground are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. In June 1718 Blackbeard the pirate ran his flagship, the Queen Anne's Revenge and his sloop Adventure, aground near present-day Beaufort Inlet, NC. The Queen Anne's Revenge was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2004 with the reference number 04000148. Thirty two years later, in August 1750, at least three Spanish merchantmen ran aground in North Carolina during a hurricane. One of the three, the El Salvador, sank near Cape Lookout.

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