Clark County area

Clark County, Arkansas covers 882.9 square miles: 866 square miles of land and 17 square miles of water. Its county seat is Arkadelphia. An estimated 20,938 people lived there in 2025.

Official Census measurements · GEOID 050192026 Gazetteer · retrieved September 27, 2026
Land area866 mi²
Water area17 mi²
Population (2025)20,938
People per mi²24

County outline

Generalized outline of Clark County, Arkansas
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 Clark County is located

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

Area breakdown

Land accounts for 98.1% of Clark County’s measured area and water for 1.9%. Its combined area converts to 2,286.8 square kilometers or approximately 565,085 acres.

Green: land · blue: water

MeasurementSquare milesSquare kilometersAcres
Land865.9712,242.855554,221.4
Water16.97543.96510,864
Total882.9462,286.82565,085.4

How Clark County compares

By original Census land area, Clark County ranks #10 of 75 in Arkansas and #951 of 3,222 nationally. National rankings include the 50 states, District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.

Its land area is 1.338 times the Arkansas county-equivalent median of 647.2 square miles. It accounts for 1.7% of the combined county land area in the state.

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

Population and density of Clark County

The Census Bureau estimates that 20,938 people lived in Clark County on July 1, 2025. That ranks #1,835 of 3,222 county equivalents nationally and #32 of 75 in Arkansas. Since the April 1, 2020 estimates base of 21,459, the population has declined by 521 (−2.4%), compared with +3.4% for Arkansas as a whole.

With 866 square miles of land, that is 24 people per square mile (9.3 per km²), placing Clark County #2,166 nationally for density and #43 in Arkansas. The median county equivalent has 47 people per square mile; the Arkansas median is 28. Put another way, there are about 26 acres of land per resident.

Estimated population, 2020–2025 · line scaled to this county’s own range
July 1202020212022202320242025
Estimate21,40421,24621,11320,89120,95220,938
Change—−158−133−222+61−14

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 Clark County

7 incorporated places lie at least partly in Clark County. Together they are home to 13,231 people (63.2%); the other 7,707 (36.8%) live outside any incorporated place, in unincorporated communities and rural areas.

The largest is Arkadelphia city, with 9,916 residents in the county.

Incorporated placePopulation 2025Since 2020Land mi²
Arkadelphia cityCounty seat9,916−4.5%7.758
Gurdon city1,817−1.6%2.425
Amity city674−0.4%3.21
Caddo Valley town588−0.7%3.107
Okolona town98+1%0.793
Gum Springs town910%0.391
Whelen Springs town47+2.2%0.234

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

Metropolitan area

Clark County is a central county of the Arkadelphia, AR Micropolitan Statistical Area. Clark County is the area’s only county equivalent, so the micro area has the same 866 square miles of land. By combined land it ranks #237 of 542 micropolitan areas, and #507 by population.

ZIP codes

11 ZIP Code Tabulation Areas have land in Clark County; 9 of them have most of their land inside the county, and the others mainly cover neighboring areas.

7172171728717437176371772719217192371929719627199871999

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 Clark County

Clark County shares a land border with 6 county equivalents. It has more land than every one of them. The largest neighbor is Montgomery County (780.5 mi²) and the smallest is Pike County (600.3 mi²). Together with its neighbors, Clark County forms a block of 4,879.5 mi² of land, of which it holds 17.7%.

Map of Clark County and the 6 county equivalents that border it Hot Spring County, Arkansas: 614.9 mi² landPike County, Arkansas: 600.3 mi² landDallas County, Arkansas: 667.3 mi² landNevada County, Arkansas: 617.8 mi² landOuachita County, Arkansas: 732.7 mi² landMontgomery County, Arkansas: 780.5 mi² land
Clark 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. ClarkCompare
Montgomery County780.51.1× smallerCompare
Ouachita County732.71.2× smallerCompare
Dallas County667.31.3× smallerCompare
Nevada County617.81.4× smallerCompare
Hot Spring County614.91.4× smallerCompare
Pike County600.31.4× smallerCompare

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

Clark County has less land than any of the 50 states. Rhode Island, the smallest state by land area, has 1,033.9 mi², about 1.2 times as much. Arkansas’s county land could hold about 60 areas the size of Clark County.

Land area: Clark County and the closest-sized states
Clark County866 mi²
Rhode Island1,033.9 mi²

Another way to picture it: the same land area would fill a square about 29.4 miles (47.4 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 Clark County?

Clark County has more land than 2,271 of the other 3,221 county equivalents in the dataset.

Land area compared with the typical county equivalent
Clark County866 mi²
Arkansas median647.2 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 Clark County at #1,021 nationally by total area, 70 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 1.9%, compared with a national county-equivalent median of 1.2% — 0.8 percentage points higher. 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 Clark County in the national ranking. They can be in different states and are not necessarily geographic neighbors.

Land rankCounty equivalentLand mi²Comparison
#950Alfalfa County, Oklahoma866.6Compare
#951Clark County, Arkansas866This county
#952Fulton County, Illinois865.7Compare

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 34.053316, -93.176208. 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: 2,242,855,161 m²; AWATER: 43,965,584 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 Clark County?

Clark County, Arkansas has 866 square miles (2,242.9 km²) of land and 17 square miles of water, for a total area of 882.9 square miles. It ranks #951 of 3,222 U.S. county equivalents by land area.

Is Clark County the largest county in Arkansas?

No. Clark County ranks #10 of 75 in Arkansas by land area. The largest is Union County, with 1,039.1 square miles of land.

What counties border Clark County?

Clark County shares a land border with Hot Spring County, Pike County, Dallas County, Nevada County, Ouachita County, and Montgomery County.

What is the population of Clark County?

The Census Bureau estimates Clark County had 20,938 residents on July 1, 2025, ranking #1,835 of 3,222 county equivalents. That is 24 people per square mile of land.

What is the county seat of Clark County?

The county seat of Clark County is Arkadelphia.

What cities and towns are in Clark County?

Clark County has 7 incorporated places. The most populous five are Arkadelphia city, Gurdon city, Amity city, Caddo Valley town, and Okolona town; 7,707 residents live outside any incorporated place.

Is Clark County part of a metropolitan area?

Yes. It is a central county of the Arkadelphia, AR Micropolitan Statistical Area.

How many ZIP codes are in Clark County?

11 ZIP Code Tabulation Areas have land in Clark County, and 9 of them have most of their land inside the county. Census ZIP Code Tabulation Areas approximate USPS ZIP Code areas.

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

It has less land than every state. Rhode Island, the smallest, has 1.2 times as much land.

How many acres of land are in Clark County?

The land measurement converts to approximately 554,221 acres. Including water, total area is approximately 565,085 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

Download the complete CSV or JSON dataset