County ranking

Most densely populated counties in the US

The 50 densest counties, people per square mile of land.

Short answer

New York County, NY ranks first with 73,286 people per square mile, followed by Kings County, NY (37,729) and Bronx County, NY (32,829). The list ranks all 3,144 county-equivalents and shows the top 50.
#1 New York County, NY
73,286
  1. 01New York County, NY73,286
  2. 02Kings County, NY37,729
  3. 03Bronx County, NY32,829
  4. 04Queens County, NY21,310
  5. 05San Francisco County, CA17,724
  6. 06Hudson County, NJ15,938
  7. 07Suffolk County, MA13,614
  8. 08Philadelphia County, PA11,718
  9. 09District of Columbia, DC11,488
  10. 10Alexandria city, VA10,649
  11. 11Arlington County, VA9,223
  12. 12Richmond County, NY8,662
  13. 13Falls Church city, VA7,334
  14. 14Baltimore city, MD7,020
  15. 15Essex County, NJ6,992
  16. 16Union County, NJ5,781
  17. 17Cook County, IL5,485
  18. 18Manassas Park city, VA5,482
  19. 19Nassau County, NY4,894
  20. 20Denver County, CO4,763
  21. 21St. Louis city, MO4,532
  22. 22Manassas city, VA4,433
  23. 23Charlottesville city, VA4,368
  24. 24Norfolk city, VA4,338
  25. 25Fairfax city, VA4,221
  26. 26Bergen County, NJ4,204
  27. 27Orange County, CA3,999
  28. 28Richmond city, VA3,899
  29. 29Milwaukee County, WI3,830
  30. 30Ramsey County, MN3,560
  31. 31Pinellas County, FL3,528
  32. 32Delaware County, PA3,182
  33. 33Lexington city, VA3,121
  34. 34Dallas County, TX3,042
  35. 35Winchester city, VA3,025
  36. 36Fairfax County, VA2,969
  37. 37Harrisonburg city, VA2,951
  38. 38Harris County, TX2,934
  39. 39Portsmouth city, VA2,897
  40. 40Wayne County, MI2,895
  41. 41Middlesex County, NJ2,878
  42. 42DeKalb County, GA2,878
  43. 43Fredericksburg city, VA2,870
  44. 44DuPage County, IL2,858
  45. 45Passaic County, NJ2,829
  46. 46Cuyahoga County, OH2,713
  47. 47Hampton city, VA2,674
  48. 48Newport News city, VA2,653
  49. 49Tarrant County, TX2,578
  50. 50Franklin County, OH2,547
Per sq mi. Log scale. Rank 1 at the top.
GeorgiaIndianaMaineMinnesotaNorth DakotaColoradoAlaskaArkansasIllinoisIowaMississippiNew YorkTennesseeTexasVirginiaKansasAlabamaNorth CarolinaMichiganMissouriNebraskaOhioSouth CarolinaVermontWisconsinCaliforniaKentuckySouth DakotaNevadaFloridaMarylandPennsylvaniaArizonaRhode IslandIdahoOregonMontanaWashingtonWest VirginiaNew MexicoNew HampshireOklahomaUtahWyomingHawaiiLouisianaMassachusettsConnecticutNew JerseyDelawareDistrict of Columbia

Dots mark the location of each of the 50 rows listed.

Reading a log scale

Densities range so widely that the bars use a logarithmic scale. New York County, NY has 73,286 people per square mile, 761 times the US average of 96.3. The least dense counties are on a separate list.

How this ranking is built

Every county-equivalent in the 50 states and DC is sorted by Vintage 2024 population divided by 2024 Gazetteer land area. Ties are broken by FIPS code. Each row links to the county page with its full profile and state rank.

Questions people ask

Which county ranks first?

New York County, NY, with 73,286 people per square mile.

Which data does this use?

Census Vintage 2024 population estimates and 2024 Gazetteer land area.

Are parishes and independent cities included?

Yes. All county-equivalents are ranked, including Louisiana parishes, Alaska boroughs and census areas, independent cities, Connecticut planning regions, and DC.

Suggested citation

Online Map Tools. "Most densely populated counties in the US." Published 2026-09-30. https://onlinemaptools.com/rankings/most-densely-populated-counties. Data: Census Vintage 2024 county population estimates; Census 2024 Gazetteer, counties.

Journalists, students and researchers may quote these figures and reuse the table. Please credit Online Map Tools and link to this page. The underlying government data is in the public domain.

Download the data (CSV)

Sources and data as of

Data as of: Census Vintage 2024 population estimates, 2024 Gazetteer land area and internal points, SAIPE 2023 median household income.

  1. 01Census Vintage 2024 county population estimates
  2. 02Census 2024 Gazetteer, counties

How every number is computed: methodology. Spotted a wrong figure? Report an error.

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