How Many States Have Smaller Populations Than Harris County?

by John Egan
April 03, 2017

From a population standpoint, Harris County, TX, is a beast.

The county -- anchored by Houston -- added nearly 56,600 residents from 2015 to 2016. Harris County was home to almost 4.6 million people as of July 2016, according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates. Based on population, Harris County is the largest county in Texas.

Harris County is home to so many people, in fact, that it if were a state, it would be the country’s 25th largest state, a LawnStarter review of Census Bureau data shows. On that front, Harris County would be sandwiched between Kentucky (a little over 4.4 million residents in 2016) and Louisiana (almost 4.7 million residents in 2016).

As measured by the amount of land covered, Harris County would be the second smallest state in the U.S., ahead of Rhode Island. However, Harris County packs more people into its relatively tiny territory than any of the less-populous states. As of 2016, Harris County had 2,583 residents per square mile, compared with 1.1 residents per square mile in Alaska, 6 per square mile in Wyoming and 7.1 per square mile in Montana.

Resident of Harris County? Check out LawnStarter for all of your lawn care service needs.

To give you an idea of how little territory Harris County covers compared with the 25 less-populous states, we turned to an online mapping tool called MAPfrappe. The tool enables you to lay an area of land (in this case, Harris County) on top of another area of land (in this case, the 25 less-populous states).

As the maps below demonstrate, Harris County -- outlined in blue -- takes up a relatively small amount of space. Yet as we know, Harris County is anything but small when measured by population.

As a baseline, remember that 4,589,928 people were jammed into 1,777-square-mile Harris County as of July 2016. That works out to 2,583 residents per square mile.

KENTUCKY vs. HARRIS COUNTY

Kentucky’s 2016 population: 4,436,974
Square miles: 40,411
Number of people per square mile: 109.8

OREGON vs. HARRIS COUNTY

Oregon’s 2016 population: 4,093,465
Square miles: 98,386
Number of people per square mile: 41.6

OKLAHOMA vs. HARRIS COUNTY

Oklahoma’s 2016 population: 3,923,561
Square miles: 69,903
Number of people per square mile: 56.1

CONNECTICUT vs. HARRIS COUNTY

Connecticut’s 2016 population: 3,576,452
Square miles: 5,544
Number of people per square mile: 645.1

IOWA vs. HARRIS COUNTY

Iowa’s 2016 population: 3,134,693
Square miles: 56,276
Number of people per square mile: 55.7

UTAH vs. HARRIS COUNTY

Utah’s 2016 population: 3,051,217
Square miles: 84,904
Number of people per square mile: 35.9

MISSISSIPPI vs. HARRIS COUNTY

Mississippi’s 2016 population: 2,988,726
Square miles: 48,434
Number of people per square mile: 61.7

ARKANSAS vs. HARRIS COUNTY

Arkansas’ 2016 population: 2,988,248
Square miles: 53,182
Number of people per square mile: 56.2

NEVADA vs. HARRIS COUNTY

Nevada’s 2016 population: 2,940,058
Square miles: 110,567
Number of people per square mile: 26.6

KANSAS vs. HARRIS COUNTY

Kansas’ 2016 population: 2,907,289
Square miles: 82,282
Number of people per square mile: 35.3

NEW MEXICO vs. HARRIS COUNTY

New Mexico’s 2016 population: 2,081,015
Square miles: 121,598
Number of people per square mile: 17.1

NEBRASKA vs. HARRIS COUNTY

Nebraska’s 2016 population: 1,907,116
Square miles: 77,358
Number of people per square mile: 24.7

WEST VIRGINIA vs. HARRIS COUNTY

West Virginia’s 2016 population: 1,831,102
Square miles: 24,231
Number of people per square mile: 75.6

IDAHO vs. HARRIS COUNTY

Idaho’s 2016 population: 1,683,140
Square miles: 83,574
Number of people per square mile: 20.1

HAWAII vs. HARRIS COUNTY

Hawaii’s 2016 population: 1,428,557
Square miles: 6,459
Number of people per square mile: 221.2

NEW HAMPSHIRE vs. HARRIS COUNTY

New Hampshire’s 2016 population: 1,334,795
Square miles: 9,351
Number of people per square mile: 142.7

MAINE vs. HARRIS COUNTY

Maine’s 2016 population: 1,331,479
Square miles: 35,387
Number of people per square mile: 37.6

RHODE ISLAND vs. HARRIS COUNTY

Rhode Island’s 2016 population: 1,056,426
Square miles: 1,545
Number of people per square mile: 683.8

MONTANA vs. HARRIS COUNTY

Montana’s 2016 population: 1,042,520
Square miles: 147,046
Number of people per square mile: 7.1

DELAWARE vs. HARRIS COUNTY

Delaware’s 2016 population: 952,065
Square miles: 2,489
Number of people per square mile: 382.5

SOUTH DAKOTA vs. HARRIS COUNTY

South Dakota’s 2016 population: 865,454
Square miles: 77,121
Number of people per square mile: 11.2

NORTH DAKOTA vs. HARRIS COUNTY

North Dakota’s 2016 population: 757,952
Square miles: 70,704
Number of people per square mile: 10.7

ALASKA vs. HARRIS COUNTY

Alaska’s 2016 population: 741,894
Square miles: 656,424
Number of people per square mile: 1.1

VERMONT vs. HARRIS COUNTY

Vermont’s 2016 population: 624,594
Square miles: 9,615
Number of people per square mile: 65

WYOMING vs. HARRIS COUNTY

Wyoming’s 2016 population: 585,501
Square miles: 97,818
Number of people per square mile: 6

Top Photo: Tripping.com
Data Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, Netstate.com