US Counties With the Highest Population (firearm Measures)
2,220 US counties ranked by population (firearm measures), from highest to lowest. First are Lassen County, CA (1004.97), Hamilton County, FL (1001.49) and Hampshire County, MA (999.58). The middle one of the 2,220 has 939.74.
What this measures
How many people live here, from the 2017-2021 American Community Survey. The gun measures are adjusted using this population. Source: CDC WONDER mortality; RAND firearm ownership database.
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 | West Virginia | 957.04 |
| 2 | New York | 954.09 |
| 3 | District of Columbia | 952.57 |
| 4 | Illinois | 951.41 |
| 5 | Connecticut | 951.32 |
| 6 | Vermont | 949.19 |
| 7 | Massachusetts | 948.73 |
| 8 | Rhode Island | 946.35 |
| 9 | California | 945.52 |
| 10 | Michigan | 944.89 |
| 11 | Pennsylvania | 944.83 |
| 12 | Hawaii | 944.70 |
| 13 | Mississippi | 943.57 |
| 14 | Louisiana | 943.49 |
| 15 | New Hampshire | 942.98 |
| 16 | Ohio | 940.66 |
| 17 | Wisconsin | 940.65 |
| 18 | New Mexico | 940.34 |
| 19 | Oregon | 939.81 |
| 20 | New Jersey | 939.20 |
| 21 | Maine | 938.80 |
| 22 | Maryland | 937.51 |
| 23 | Kentucky | 936.28 |
| 24 | Missouri | 936.16 |
| 25 | Wyoming | 935.52 |
| 26 | Kansas | 935.06 |
| 27 | Iowa | 933.84 |
| 28 | Alaska | 933.50 |
| 29 | Virginia | 933.41 |
| 30 | Minnesota | 931.44 |
| 31 | Arkansas | 930.44 |
| 32 | Alabama | 930.31 |
| 33 | Indiana | 930.13 |
| 34 | Colorado | 929.12 |
| 35 | Nebraska | 926.33 |
| 36 | Washington | 925.96 |
| 37 | Oklahoma | 924.90 |
| 38 | Tennessee | 923.78 |
| 39 | North Dakota | 923.74 |
| 40 | North Carolina | 923.35 |
| 41 | Georgia | 922.32 |
| 42 | Delaware | 922.25 |
| 43 | Florida | 922.12 |
| 44 | Montana | 920.85 |
| 45 | South Carolina | 919.55 |
| 46 | Arizona | 917.23 |
| 47 | Nevada | 916.21 |
| 48 | South Dakota | 914.43 |
| 49 | Texas | 907.65 |
| 50 | Utah | 896.29 |
| 51 | Idaho | 896.11 |
More on population (firearm measures)
- US Counties With the Lowest Population (firearm Measures)
- Population (firearm measures) 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.