Using publicly available Census data, Business Insider’s Walter Hickey and Joe Weisenthal have deduced that over half of America’s population is localized to a mere 146 of the 3,144 U.S. counties and county-equivalents.
Map via Business Insider
Of course, some counties contain way more people per square mile than others, and some counties are gargantuan, while others are small. At only around 13 square miles, Hawaii’s Kalawao County is the smallest. San Bernardino County (the hugest, honking-est blue county in California in the map up top) is technically the largest county proper, with a land area of 20,052.5 square miles – but things get interesting if you include Alaska’s boroughs and census areas, which serve as county equivalents for the purposes of the U.S. Census. In that case, the award for largest county unquestionably goes to the Yokon-Koyukuk Census Area, which has a land area of over 145,000 square miles. For a sense of scale, that’s more than the total land area of Germany.
These are all factors that affect what Hickey and Weisenthal were ultimately interested in: the total number of people per county. On a county-by-county basis that may not sound terribly interesting, but when you color in all 146 of them, the leftover regions turn out to be a stark sea of grey – a landmass that, collectively, sports a population density that is positively dwarfed by its blue-hued counterpart.
Did your county make the list? Listed below is the full list of all 146. And just for fun, we’ve thrown in the 50 most densely populated counties in the U.S., along with the 50 least densely populated counties (remember: density is a different metric than total number). While we’re on the subject, here’s the Wikipedia page on U.S. county statistics.
We’d be very curious to see an animation depicting how this population distribution has shifted over time, or a map that shades in the counties making up 60%, 75%, or 90% of the population; looking at this map, one can’t help but wonder just how sparsely populated Rural America really is.
The 146 Most Populous Counties
Los Angeles County, CA
Cook County, IL
Harris County, TX
Maricopa County, AZ
San Diego County, CA
Orange County, CA
Miami-Dade County, FL
Kings County, NY
Dallas County, TX
Queens County, NY
Riverside County, CA
San Bernardino County, CA
King County, WA
Clark County, NV
Tarrant County, TX
Santa Clara County, CA
Broward County, FL
Wayne County, MI
Bexar County, TX
New York County, NY
Alameda County, CA
Philadelphia County, PA
Middlesex County, MA
Suffolk County, NY
Sacramento County, CA
Bronx County, NY
Palm Beach County, FL
Nassau County, NY
Hillsborough County, FL
Cuyahoga County, OH
Allegheny County, PA
Oakland County, MI
Orange County, FL
Franklin County, OH
Hennepin County, MN
Fairfax County, VA
Travis County, TX
Contra Costa County, CA
Salt Lake County, UT
Montgomery County, MD
St. Louis County, MO
Pima County, AZ
Fulton County, GA
Honolulu County, HI
Mecklenburg County, NC
Westchester County, NY
Milwaukee County, WI
Wake County, NC
Fresno County, CA
Shelby County, TN
Fairfield County, CT
DuPage County, IL
Pinellas County, FL
Erie County, NY
Marion County, IN
Bergen County, NJ
Hartford County, CT
Prince George’s County, MD
Duval County, FL
New Haven County, CT
Kern County, CA
Macomb County, MI
Gwinnett County, GA
Ventura County, CA
Collin County, TX
El Paso County, TX
San Francisco County, CA
Middlesex County, NJ
Baltimore County, MD
Pierce County, WA
Montgomery County, PA
Hidalgo County, TX
Worcester County, MA
Hamilton County, OH
Essex County, NJ
Multnomah County, OR
Essex County, MA
Jefferson County, KY
Monroe County, NY
Suffolk County, MA
Oklahoma County, OK
San Mateo County, CA
Snohomish County, WA
Cobb County, GA
Denton County, TX
DeKalb County, GA
San Joaquin County, CA
Lake County, IL
Will County, IL
Norfolk County, MA
Jackson County, MO
Bernalillo County, NM
Jefferson County, AL
Hudson County, NJ
Davidson County, TN
Lee County, FL
El Paso County, CO
Denver County, CO
District of Columbia, DC
Monmouth County, NJ
Providence County, RI
Fort Bend County, TX
Bucks County, PA
Baltimore city, MD
Polk County, FL
Kent County, MI
Tulsa County, OK
Arapahoe County, CO
Ocean County, NJ
Delaware County, PA
Johnson County, KS
Bristol County, MA
Anne Arundel County, MD
Washington County, OR
Brevard County, FL
New Castle County, DE
Jefferson County, CO
Union County, NJ
Summit County, OH
Utah County, UT
Montgomery County, OH
Douglas County, NE
Lancaster County, PA
Kane County, IL
Stanislaus County, CA
Ramsey County, MN
Camden County, NJ
Chester County, PA
Sedgwick County, KS
Dane County, WI
Passaic County, NJ
Guilford County, NC
Plymouth County, MA
Morris County, NJ
Volusia County, FL
Lake County, IN
Sonoma County, CA
Montgomery County, TX
Spokane County, WA
Richmond County, NY
Pasco County, FL
Greenville County, SC
Onondaga County, NY
Hampden County, MA
Adams County, CO
Williamson County, TX
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50 Most Densely Populated Counties
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