US Counties With the Highest Population (County Health Rankings)
3,142 US counties ranked by population (county health rankings), from highest to lowest. First are Kalawao County, HI (1883.72), Petroleum County, MT (1381.55) and Yakutat City and Borough, AK (1357.71). The middle one of the 3,142 has 1002.17.
What this measures
How many people live here, as County Health Rankings counts them. Source: County Health Rankings.
This is a count, so it is ranked per 1,000 residents. Ranked by the raw total, it would just list the biggest counties.
For most measures, a national ranking mostly sorts places by income and by how urban they are. Each county’s own page compares it with the 50 counties most like it instead, which is often the fairer view.
The 100 highest counties
Every state, highest first
Each state’s own published figure, not an average of its counties.
| Rank | State | Per 1,000 residents |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Idaho | 1037.71 |
| 2 | Florida | 1031.11 |
| 3 | South Carolina | 1030.85 |
| 4 | Texas | 1029.11 |
| 5 | Utah | 1025.97 |
| 6 | Delaware | 1025.88 |
| 7 | Montana | 1025.09 |
| 8 | North Carolina | 1023.69 |
| 9 | Arizona | 1022.44 |
| 10 | South Dakota | 1022.38 |
| 11 | Tennessee | 1020.10 |
| 12 | Georgia | 1019.07 |
| 13 | Nevada | 1016.94 |
| 14 | Oklahoma | 1014.65 |
| 15 | Maine | 1013.29 |
| 16 | Arkansas | 1011.56 |
| 17 | Colorado | 1011.50 |
| 18 | Alabama | 1010.73 |
| 19 | New Hampshire | 1010.28 |
| 20 | District of Columbia | 1010.25 |
| 21 | Washington | 1009.29 |
| 22 | Wyoming | 1007.42 |
| 23 | Indiana | 1007.41 |
| 24 | Virginia | 1006.72 |
| 25 | Nebraska | 1006.34 |
| 26 | North Dakota | 1005.86 |
| 27 | Connecticut | 1005.24 |
| 28 | Missouri | 1004.54 |
| 29 | Minnesota | 1004.23 |
| 30 | Iowa | 1003.46 |
| 31 | Kentucky | 1003.43 |
| 32 | Vermont | 1003.42 |
| 33 | Wisconsin | 1003.22 |
| 34 | New Jersey | 1002.57 |
| 35 | Maryland | 1001.55 |
| 36 | Massachusetts | 1001.29 |
| 37 | Kansas | 1001.00 |
| 38 | Rhode Island | 1000.58 |
| 39 | Ohio | 1000.51 |
| 40 | New Mexico | 999.83 |
| 41 | Alaska | 999.24 |
| 42 | Oregon | 998.75 |
| 43 | Michigan | 998.55 |
| 44 | Pennsylvania | 998.11 |
| 45 | Mississippi | 996.02 |
| 46 | California | 992.92 |
| 47 | Hawaii | 992.71 |
| 48 | West Virginia | 991.95 |
| 49 | Louisiana | 989.76 |
| 50 | Illinois | 988.76 |
| 51 | New York | 984.84 |
More on population (county health rankings)
- US Counties With the Lowest Population (County Health Rankings)
- Population (County Health Rankings) by US county: map by year and what it goes with
A ranking describes places, not the people in them, and a high or low place does not by itself say why. All US rankings.