Alpine County area

Population and density of Alpine County

The Census Bureau estimates that 1,043 people lived in Alpine County on July 1, 2025. That ranks #3,185 of 3,222 county equivalents nationally and #58 of 58 in California. Since the April 1, 2020 estimates base of 1,178, the population has declined by 135 (−11.5%), compared with −0.5% for California as a whole.

With 738.3 square miles of land, that is 1.4 people per square mile (0.55 per km²), placing Alpine County #3,112 nationally for density and #58 in California. The median county equivalent has 47 people per square mile; the California median is 112. Put another way, there are about 453 acres of land per resident.

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 Alpine County

Alpine County has no incorporated cities, towns or villages. All 1,043 of its residents live in unincorporated communities, which the Census Bureau describes as census-designated places rather than municipalities.

Metropolitan area

Alpine County is an outlying county of the Gardnerville Ranchos, NV-CA Micropolitan Statistical Area. Its 2 county equivalents have 51,154 residents on 1,448.9 square miles of land; Alpine County accounts for 51% of the land and 2% of the residents. By combined land it ranks #116 of 542 micropolitan areas, and #217 by population. It belongs to the Reno-Carson City-Gardnerville Ranchos, NV-CA Combined Statistical Area.

ZIP codes

3 ZIP Code Tabulation Areas have land in Alpine County, and each lies mostly inside the county.

952239564696120

ZIP Code Tabulation Areas are the Census Bureau’s approximations of USPS ZIP Code service areas, from the 2020 Census relationship files. Post-office-box and single-address ZIP Codes have no tabulation area.

Counties bordering Alpine County

Alpine County shares a land border with 6 county equivalents, including 1 in Nevada. It has more land than 2 of them. The largest neighbor is Mono County (3,048.9 mi²) and the smallest is Amador County (594.6 mi²). Together with its neighbors, Alpine County forms a block of 10,041.1 mi² of land, of which it holds 7.4%.

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

Alpine County has less land than any of the 50 states. Rhode Island, the smallest state by land area, has 1,033.9 mi², about 1.4 times as much. California’s county land could hold about 211 areas the size of Alpine County.

Another way to picture it: the same land area would fill a square about 27.2 miles (43.7 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 Alpine County?

Alpine County has more land than 2,025 of the other 3,221 county equivalents in the dataset.

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 Alpine County at #1,293 nationally by total area, 96 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 0.7%, compared with a national county-equivalent median of 1.2% — 0.5 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 Alpine County in the national ranking. They can be in different states and are not necessarily geographic neighbors.

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.