The Central District of Samalqan County () is in North Khorasan province, Iran. Its capital is the city of Ashkhaneh.
At the time of the 2006 National Census, the district's population was 44,804 in 11,301 households. The following census in 2011 counted 53,563 people in 3,659 households. The 2016 census measured the population of the district as 53,110 inhabitants in 15,350 households.