Valdese is a town in Burke County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 4,490 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Hickory–Lenoir–Morganton Metropolitan Statistical Area. One of the largest Waldensian congregations in the United States was founded in the town in the late nineteenth century, now known as the Waldensian Presbyterian Church. The town was settled by immigrants from the Cottian Alps in the Piedmont region of Italy.