America's high-density counties: seven times their share

Every county below with 500 to 999 people per square mile — high density, but not the very-high-density tier — is shaded in.

2.0%

of the country's land area has 500–999 people per square mile

14.5%

of the population lives in that same area

500–999 people / sq mi (118 counties)

All other counties

Not quite the city, but far from empty. These 118 counties are "high density" on the Census Bureau's scale — solid suburbs and small metro areas, dense enough to feel urban, but a full tier below the very-high-density counties. On just 2% of the country's land, they hold more than seven times their proportional share of the population.

Stack this against the emptiest slice of the map — 46% of the land holding barely 1% of the people — and the contrast is stark. See all three density cutoffs side by side, including the very-high-density counties.

Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, Vintage 2023 Population Estimates (county totals) and 2023 Gazetteer Files (land area). County boundaries: US Census via us-atlas. 118 of 3,144 counties (Puerto Rico excluded — not covered by this population estimates release).