Sacramento County area

Population and density of Sacramento County

The Census Bureau estimates that 1,618,460 people lived in Sacramento County on July 1, 2025. That ranks #23 of 3,222 county equivalents nationally and #8 of 58 in California. Since the April 1, 2020 estimates base of 1,585,027, the population has grown by 33,433 (+2.1%), compared with −0.5% for California as a whole.

With 965.4 square miles of land, that is 1,677 people per square mile (647 per km²), placing Sacramento County #100 nationally for density and #5 in California. The median county equivalent has 47 people per square mile; the California median is 112. Put another way, there are about 0.382 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 Sacramento County

7 incorporated places lie at least partly in Sacramento County. Together they are home to 1,015,080 people (62.7%); the other 603,380 (37.3%) live outside any incorporated place, in unincorporated communities and rural areas.

The largest is Sacramento city, with 536,449 residents in the county. Among places with at least 1,000 residents in 2020, Folsom city grew fastest since then (+14.3%).

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

Metropolitan area

Sacramento County is a central county of the Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA Metropolitan Statistical Area. Its 4 county equivalents have 2,477,274 residents on 5,093.6 square miles of land; Sacramento County accounts for 19% of the land and 65.3% of the residents. By combined land it ranks #50 of 393 metropolitan areas, and #27 by population. It belongs to the Sacramento-Roseville, CA Combined Statistical Area.

ZIP codes

58 ZIP Code Tabulation Areas have land in Sacramento County; 55 of them have most of their land inside the county, and the others mainly cover neighboring areas.

94571956089561095615956219562495626956289563095632956389563995640956419565295655956609566295670956719567395678956809568395690956939574295757957589581195814958159581695817958189581995820958219582295823958249582595826958279582895829958309583195832958339583495835958379583895841958429584395864

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 Sacramento County

Sacramento County shares a land border with 8 county equivalents. It has more land than 4 of them. The largest neighbor is El Dorado County (1,707.8 mi²) and the smallest is Amador County (594.6 mi²). Together with its neighbors, Sacramento County forms a block of 9,221.8 mi² of land, of which it holds 10.5%.

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

Sacramento 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. California’s county land could hold about 161 areas the size of Sacramento County.

Another way to picture it: the same land area would fill a square about 31.1 miles (50 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 Sacramento County?

Sacramento County has more land than 2,494 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 Sacramento County at #781 nationally by total area, 53 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 2.9%, compared with a national county-equivalent median of 1.2% — 1.7 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 Sacramento 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.