US Counties With the Highest Total Population
3,220 US counties ranked by total population, from highest to lowest. First are Fresno County, CA (1000.05), Daviess County, KY (1000.05) and Bay County, MI (1000.05). The middle one of the 3,220 has 1000.00.
What this measures
How many people live here, as counted by the American Community Survey. This comes from the survey, not from the Census Bureau's separate population estimates. Source: Census ACS 5-year.
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 | Michigan | 1000.04 |
| 2 | Pennsylvania | 1000.04 |
| 3 | Georgia | 1000.04 |
| 4 | Delaware | 1000.03 |
| 5 | Rhode Island | 1000.03 |
| 6 | Montana | 1000.03 |
| 7 | Illinois | 1000.02 |
| 8 | West Virginia | 1000.02 |
| 9 | Arkansas | 1000.02 |
| 10 | New Mexico | 1000.01 |
| 11 | Kansas | 1000.01 |
| 12 | Oklahoma | 1000.01 |
| 13 | Alabama | 1000.01 |
| 14 | Indiana | 1000.01 |
| 15 | Puerto Rico | 1000.01 |
| 16 | South Carolina | 1000.01 |
| 17 | Colorado | 1000.01 |
| 18 | California | 1000.01 |
| 19 | Florida | 1000.00 |
| 20 | Missouri | 1000.00 |
| 21 | Utah | 1000.00 |
| 22 | Tennessee | 1000.00 |
| 23 | Arizona | 1000.00 |
| 24 | Washington | 1000.00 |
| 25 | District of Columbia | 1000.00 |
| 26 | Idaho | 1000.00 |
| 27 | Maine | 1000.00 |
| 28 | Massachusetts | 1000.00 |
| 29 | Nevada | 1000.00 |
| 30 | Ohio | 1000.00 |
| 31 | Virginia | 1000.00 |
| 32 | New Jersey | 1000.00 |
| 33 | North Dakota | 1000.00 |
| 34 | Alaska | 1000.00 |
| 35 | Wyoming | 1000.00 |
| 36 | Oregon | 1000.00 |
| 37 | Wisconsin | 1000.00 |
| 38 | Minnesota | 1000.00 |
| 39 | Louisiana | 1000.00 |
| 40 | Kentucky | 1000.00 |
| 41 | South Dakota | 1000.00 |
| 42 | Vermont | 999.99 |
| 43 | Maryland | 999.99 |
| 44 | Texas | 999.99 |
| 45 | Iowa | 999.99 |
| 46 | Mississippi | 999.99 |
| 47 | Connecticut | 999.99 |
| 48 | New York | 999.98 |
| 49 | Nebraska | 999.98 |
| 50 | New Hampshire | 999.98 |
| 51 | Hawaii | 999.97 |
| 52 | North Carolina | 999.97 |
More on total population
- US Counties With the Lowest Total Population
- Total population 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.