Compare two counties

Worked example: San Bernardino vs Maricopa

The tool opens with this pair because both are large in land and in population, which makes the ranks easy to read.

What each measure means

Population is the Census Vintage 2024 estimate for July 1, 2024. Land area is from the 2024 Gazetteer and excludes water, so a county on a large lake or bay can look smaller than its map outline. Density is population divided by land area. Median household income is the Census SAIPE 2023 model-based estimate, which blends survey data with tax and program records to give a value for every county, including small ones.

Ranks are computed across all 3,144 county-equivalents, largest first. Kalawao County, Hawaii has no SAIPE income value, so income ranks run to 3,143.

Reading the rank rulers

Each ruler runs from last place on the left to first on the right, with ticks at the quartiles. The filled bar and the pin show where the county sits. A county past the middle tick is above the median county for that measure. Population is skewed: the median US county had 26,122 people in 2024, and a county of 70,292 already sits at the 75th percentile.

Same population, different places

Two counties can hold the same number of people and still be very different places. Density shows why: a county of 50,000 on 400 square miles has 125 people per square mile, while the same 50,000 spread over 4,000 square miles has 12.5. The first reads as a suburb, the second as farm or ranch country with a small county seat.

Income works the same way. SAIPE medians describe the middle household, so a county with a few very high earners and many modest ones can have a lower median than a county where most households earn a middle income. Compare medians with that in mind, and use the rank rulers to see how unusual each value is nationally rather than reading the raw dollar gap alone.

Sharing a comparison

The address bar updates with the two FIPS codes, for example ?a=06071&b=04013. Copy it to share the exact pair. The ratio column divides the first county's value by the second, so swap the boxes to invert it.

The distance on the drawing runs between the two counties' Census internal points, a representative point inside each county. For the full profile of either county, follow its name to its county page.