CO · GEOID 08011

Bent County area

Bent County, Colorado covers 1,541.1 square miles: 1,512.8 square miles of land and 28.2 square miles of water.

Official Census measurements2026 Gazetteer · retrieved September 27, 2026
Land area1,512.8 mi²
Water area28.2 mi²
Total area1,541.1 mi²
National land rank#393

County outline

Generalized outline of Bent County, Colorado
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 Bent County is located

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

Area breakdown

Land accounts for 98.2% of Bent County’s measured area and water for 1.8%. Its combined area converts to 3,991.4 square kilometers or approximately 986,296 acres.

Green: land · blue: water

MeasurementSquare milesSquare kilometersAcres
Land1,512.8473,918.256968,222.1
Water28.2473.14118,073.6
Total1,541.0873,991.397986,295.7

How Bent County compares

By original Census land area, Bent County ranks #32 of 64 in Colorado and #393 of 3,222 nationally. National rankings include the 50 states, District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.

Its land area is 1.057 times the Colorado county-equivalent median of 1,431.5 square miles. It accounts for 1.5% of the combined county land area in the state.

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

What stands out about Bent County?

Bent County has more land than 2,829 of the other 3,221 county equivalents in the dataset.

Land area compared with the typical county equivalent
Bent County1,512.8 mi²
Colorado median1,431.5 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 Bent County at #435 nationally by total area, 42 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 1.8%, compared with a national county-equivalent median of 1.2% — 0.7 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 Bent County in the national ranking. They can be in different states and are not necessarily geographic neighbors.

Land rankCounty equivalentLand mi²Comparison
#392Tom Green County, Texas1,522.3Compare
#393Bent County, Colorado1,512.8This county
#394Worcester County, Massachusetts1,510.7Compare

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 37.931891, -103.077584. 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: 3,918,255,139 m²; AWATER: 73,141,514 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 many acres of land are in Bent County?

The land measurement converts to approximately 968,222 acres. Including water, total area is approximately 986,296 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