Demographics Atlas Open the interactive map →

Population per Square Mile in California, by County

Population per Square Mile for every county in California, ranked. The highest is San Francisco County at 17,785.7 and the lowest is Inyo County at 1.8.

California: 252.1 · United States: n/a · median county in California: 110.2

See Population per Square Mile on the interactive map →

#County Population per Square Mile
1San Francisco County17,785.7
2Orange County3,992.9
3Los Angeles County2,415.8
4Alameda County2,236.7
5San Mateo County1,654.7
6Sacramento County1,651.3
7Contra Costa County1,625.1
8Santa Clara County1,473.2
9San Diego County781.1
10Santa Cruz County595.2
11San Joaquin County572.7
12Solano County550.0
13Marin County496.0
14Ventura County455.0
15Stanislaus County370.3
16Riverside County343.8
17Sonoma County307.9
18Placer County297.9
19Yolo County217.7
20Napa County179.4
21Fresno County170.6
22Sutter County164.0
23Santa Barbara County162.3
24Merced County149.7
25Yuba County133.7
26Monterey County133.3
27Butte County127.1
28El Dorado County112.8
29Kern County112.5
30Kings County110.2
31San Bernardino County109.5
32Nevada County107.0
33Tulare County99.2
34San Luis Obispo County85.3
35Madera County75.3
36Amador County69.7
37Lake County54.3
38San Benito County48.5
39Shasta County48.1
40Calaveras County45.3
41Imperial County43.2
42Humboldt County37.7
43Del Norte County26.9
44Mendocino County25.7
45Tuolumne County24.5
46Tehama County22.1
47Glenn County21.7
48Colusa County19.1
49Mariposa County11.8
50Plumas County7.6
51Siskiyou County6.9
52Lassen County6.7
53Trinity County5.0
54Mono County4.3
55Sierra County2.9
56Alpine County2.2
57Modoc County2.2
58Inyo County1.8

People divided by land area. Water is excluded, so lake and coastal counties are not unfairly diluted.

Source: ACS 2020-2024 5-Year Estimates, 2024.

California ranks 13th of 52 states for population per square mile.

Population per Square Mile in other states

Other statistics for California by county