Sumter County area

Sumter County, Alabama covers 913.3 square miles: 903.8 square miles of land and 9.512 square miles of water. Its county seat is Livingston. An estimated 11,588 people lived there in 2025.

Official Census measurements · GEOID 011192026 Gazetteer · retrieved September 27, 2026
Land area903.8 mi²
Water area9.512 mi²
Population (2025)11,588
People per mi²13

County outline

Generalized outline of Sumter County, Alabama
2025 Census cartographic boundary, fitted to this frame. County maps are not at a common scale. The 2026 area measurements below come from the separate Gazetteer release. Map source and limitations.

Where Sumter County is located

Sumter County highlighted on a map of all U.S. county equivalents. About the maps

Area breakdown

Land accounts for 99% of Sumter County’s measured area and water for 1%. Its combined area converts to 2,365.5 square kilometers or approximately 584,536 acres.

Green: land · blue: water

MeasurementSquare milesSquare kilometersAcres
Land903.8262,340.899578,448.6
Water9.51224.6366,087.7
Total913.3382,365.535584,536.3

How Sumter County compares

By original Census land area, Sumter County ranks #14 of 67 in Alabama and #835 of 3,222 nationally. National rankings include the 50 states, District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.

Its land area is 1.345 times the Alabama county-equivalent median of 672.1 square miles. It accounts for 1.8% of the combined county land area in the state.

See the complete Alabama ranking · What counts as a county equivalent?

Population and density of Sumter County

The Census Bureau estimates that 11,588 people lived in Sumter County on July 1, 2025. That ranks #2,383 of 3,222 county equivalents nationally and #60 of 67 in Alabama. Since the April 1, 2020 estimates base of 12,347, the population has declined by 759 (−6.1%), compared with +3.3% for Alabama as a whole.

With 903.8 square miles of land, that is 13 people per square mile (5 per km²), placing Sumter County #2,549 nationally for density and #63 in Alabama. The median county equivalent has 47 people per square mile; the Alabama median is 49. Put another way, there are about 50 acres of land per resident.

Estimated population, 2020–2025 · line scaled to this county’s own range
July 1202020212022202320242025
Estimate12,19311,96111,88411,75711,62911,588
Change—−232−77−127−128−41

U.S. Census Bureau, Vintage 2025 population estimates. Estimates are revised each year and are not decennial census counts. Density divides the whole population by the whole county’s land area, so it describes an average, not how settlement is distributed within the county. Population sources and methods.

Cities and towns in Sumter County

7 incorporated places lie at least partly in Sumter County. Together they are home to 6,363 people (54.9%); the other 5,225 (45.1%) live outside any incorporated place, in unincorporated communities and rural areas.

The largest is Livingston city, with 3,242 residents in the county.

Incorporated placePopulation 2025Since 2020Land mi²
Livingston cityCounty seat3,242−5.5%7.13
York city2,233−7.7%6.865
Cuba town274−9.9%4.062
Epes town268−1.1%6.586
Gainesville town164−6.3%1.719
Geiger town152−2.6%0.945
Emelle town30−9.1%0.211

Population: U.S. Census Bureau Vintage 2025 subcounty estimates, counting only the part of each place inside Sumter County. Land: 2026 Census Gazetteer, for the whole place even where it extends into other counties. How communities are listed.

Metropolitan area

Sumter County is not part of any metropolitan or micropolitan statistical area in the Office of Management and Budget’s July 2023 delineation; 1,306 other county equivalents are also outside one. These areas are built around an urban core of at least 10,000 people plus the counties tied to it by commuting, so counties outside them are generally rural.

ZIP codes

11 ZIP Code Tabulation Areas have land in Sumter County; 8 of them have most of their land inside the county, and the others mainly cover neighboring areas.

3544235459354603546435470354773690136907369123692236925

ZIP Code Tabulation Areas are the Census Bureau’s approximations of USPS ZIP Code service areas, from the 2020 Census relationship files. Lighter codes have less than half of their land in this county. Post-office-box and single-address ZIP Codes have no tabulation area.

Counties bordering Sumter County

Sumter County shares a land border with 7 county equivalents, including 3 in Mississippi. It has more land than 5 of them. The largest neighbor is Marengo County (976.9 mi²) and the smallest is Greene County (647 mi²). Together with its neighbors, Sumter County forms a block of 6,487.8 mi² of land, of which it holds 13.9%.

Map of Sumter County and the 7 county equivalents that border it Greene County, Alabama: 647 mi² landChoctaw County, Alabama: 913.5 mi² landKemper County, Mississippi: 766.2 mi² landMarengo County, Alabama: 976.9 mi² landLauderdale County, Mississippi: 703.7 mi² landPickens County, Alabama: 881.4 mi² landNoxubee County, Mississippi: 695.4 mi² land
Sumter County (dark) and its bordering county equivalents. Select a neighbor to open its profile. Drawn from the 2025 Census cartographic boundaries in an equal-area projection. How borders are determined.
Bordering county equivalentLand mi²Size vs. SumterCompare
Marengo County976.91.1× largerCompare
Choctaw County913.5about the sameCompare
Pickens County881.4about the sameCompare
Kemper CountyMississippi766.21.2× smallerCompare
Lauderdale CountyMississippi703.71.3× smallerCompare
Noxubee CountyMississippi695.41.3× smallerCompare
Greene County6471.4× smallerCompare

How big is Sumter County compared with U.S. states?

Sumter County has less land than any of the 50 states. Rhode Island, the smallest state by land area, has 1,033.9 mi², about 1.1 times as much. Alabama’s county land could hold about 56 areas the size of Sumter County.

Land area: Sumter County and the closest-sized states
Sumter County903.8 mi²
Rhode Island1,033.9 mi²

Another way to picture it: the same land area would fill a square about 30.1 miles (48.4 km) on each side. Real county shapes are rarely square, so this is a scale reference rather than a width or driving distance.

State figures are the sums of each state’s county-equivalent land measurements in the same Census release, so states and counties are compared on the same basis. Published state totals can differ slightly because of rounding. Compare all states · Counties bigger than entire states.

What stands out about Sumter County?

Sumter County has more land than 2,387 of the other 3,221 county equivalents in the dataset.

Land area compared with the typical county equivalent
Sumter County903.8 mi²
Alabama median672.1 mi²
National median604.5 mi²

A median is the middle county-equivalent measurement, not the average of the largest and smallest. All three bars use the same linear scale. Very small areas may appear as a thin sliver; the labels retain their values.

Does including water change its rank?

Using land plus water places Sumter County at #924 nationally by total area, 89 places farther from the top than its land rank. Other county equivalents gain more area when their water measurements are included.

Its water share is 1%, compared with a national county-equivalent median of 1.2% — 0.1 percentage points lower. This describes the statistical geography’s land/water mix, not flood exposure or developable land.

Closest positions in the national land ranking

These entries sit immediately beside Sumter County in the national ranking. They can be in different states and are not necessarily geographic neighbors.

Land rankCounty equivalentLand mi²Comparison
#834Bryan County, Oklahoma904.3Compare
#835Sumter County, Alabama903.8This county
#836Parker County, Texas903.7Compare

Calculated from the same Census release as the area table. Total-area order uses original ALAND + AWATER; water shares and chart labels use published square miles. Calculation details.

Representative coordinates

The Census internal point is 32.597481, -88.200057. It represents a location inside the geography; it is not necessarily the centroid or the address of a courthouse.

Source and precision

U.S. Census Bureau, 2026 Gazetteer Files, Counties. Original ALAND: 2,340,898,904 m²; AWATER: 24,634,885 m². Rankings use ALAND; exact ties use ascending GEOID. Tables preserve Census-published square miles to three decimals, with conversions based on those values.

Download the official county source ZIP ↗ · Methodology

Common questions

How big is Sumter County?

Sumter County, Alabama has 903.8 square miles (2,340.9 km²) of land and 9.512 square miles of water, for a total area of 913.3 square miles. It ranks #835 of 3,222 U.S. county equivalents by land area.

Is Sumter County the largest county in Alabama?

No. Sumter County ranks #14 of 67 in Alabama by land area. The largest is Baldwin County, with 1,589.9 square miles of land.

What counties border Sumter County?

Sumter County shares a land border with Greene County, Choctaw County, Kemper County, Mississippi, Marengo County, Lauderdale County, Mississippi, Pickens County, and Noxubee County, Mississippi.

What is the population of Sumter County?

The Census Bureau estimates Sumter County had 11,588 residents on July 1, 2025, ranking #2,383 of 3,222 county equivalents. That is 13 people per square mile of land.

What is the county seat of Sumter County?

The county seat of Sumter County is Livingston.

What cities and towns are in Sumter County?

Sumter County has 7 incorporated places. The most populous five are Livingston city, York city, Cuba town, Epes town, and Gainesville town; 5,225 residents live outside any incorporated place.

Is Sumter County part of a metropolitan area?

No. Sumter County is outside every metropolitan and micropolitan statistical area in the July 2023 OMB delineation.

How many ZIP codes are in Sumter County?

11 ZIP Code Tabulation Areas have land in Sumter County, and 8 of them have most of their land inside the county. Census ZIP Code Tabulation Areas approximate USPS ZIP Code areas.

How does Sumter County compare with U.S. states?

It has less land than every state. Rhode Island, the smallest, has 1.1 times as much land.

How many acres of land are in Sumter County?

The land measurement converts to approximately 578,449 acres. Including water, total area is approximately 584,536 acres. One square mile equals 640 acres.

Why might another source show a different area?

Check whether it reports land or total area, its Census vintage, and its rounding. Our guide explains how to reconcile county area figures.

Can this establish a property boundary?

No. Statistical measurements and generalized maps do not establish property lines. Consult the relevant local surveying or land-records authority.

Cite this county

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