Liberty County area

Liberty County, Florida covers 843.1 square miles: 835.6 square miles of land and 7.561 square miles of water. Its county seat is Bristol. An estimated 8,035 people lived there in 2025.

Official Census measurements · GEOID 120772026 Gazetteer · retrieved September 27, 2026
Land area835.6 mi²
Water area7.561 mi²
Population (2025)8,035
People per mi²9.6

County outline

Generalized outline of Liberty County, Florida
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 Liberty County is located

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

Area breakdown

Land accounts for 99.1% of Liberty County’s measured area and water for 0.9%. Its combined area converts to 2,183.7 square kilometers or approximately 539,599 acres.

Green: land · blue: water

MeasurementSquare milesSquare kilometersAcres
Land835.5632,164.098534,760.3
Water7.56119.5834,839
Total843.1242,183.681539,599.4

How Liberty County compares

By original Census land area, Liberty County ranks #23 of 67 in Florida and #1006 of 3,222 nationally. National rankings include the 50 states, District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.

Its land area is 1.2 times the Florida county-equivalent median of 696.5 square miles. It accounts for 1.6% of the combined county land area in the state.

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

Population and density of Liberty County

The Census Bureau estimates that 8,035 people lived in Liberty County on July 1, 2025. That ranks #2,643 of 3,222 county equivalents nationally and #67 of 67 in Florida. Since the April 1, 2020 estimates base of 7,980, the population has grown by 55 (+0.7%), compared with +8.9% for Florida as a whole.

With 835.6 square miles of land, that is 9.6 people per square mile (3.7 per km²), placing Liberty County #2,658 nationally for density and #67 in Florida. The median county equivalent has 47 people per square mile; the Florida median is 209. Put another way, there are about 67 acres of land per resident.

Estimated population, 2020–2025 · line scaled to this county’s own range
July 1202020212022202320242025
Estimate7,8187,2997,6027,8047,9778,035
Change—−519+303+202+173+58

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 Liberty County

1 incorporated place lies at least partly in Liberty County. Together they are home to 936 people (11.6%); the other 7,099 (88.4%) live outside any incorporated place, in unincorporated communities and rural areas.

The largest is Bristol city, with 936 residents in the county.

Metropolitan area

Liberty 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

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

323213233432360

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 Liberty County

Liberty County shares a land border with 6 county equivalents. It has more land than every one of them. The largest neighbor is Leon County (668.4 mi²) and the smallest is Gadsden County (516.4 mi²). Together with its neighbors, Liberty County forms a block of 4,292.6 mi² of land, of which it holds 19.5%.

Map of Liberty County and the 6 county equivalents that border it Franklin County, Florida: 545 mi² landCalhoun County, Florida: 567.3 mi² landGadsden County, Florida: 516.4 mi² landWakulla County, Florida: 606.4 mi² landGulf County, Florida: 553.5 mi² landLeon County, Florida: 668.4 mi² land
Liberty 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. LibertyCompare
Leon County668.41.3× smallerCompare
Wakulla County606.41.4× smallerCompare
Calhoun County567.31.5× smallerCompare
Gulf County553.51.5× smallerCompare
Franklin County5451.5× smallerCompare
Gadsden County516.41.6× smallerCompare

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

Liberty 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. Florida’s county land could hold about 64 areas the size of Liberty County.

Land area: Liberty County and the closest-sized states
Liberty County835.6 mi²
Rhode Island1,033.9 mi²

Another way to picture it: the same land area would fill a square about 28.9 miles (46.5 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 Liberty County?

Liberty County has more land than 2,216 of the other 3,221 county equivalents in the dataset.

Land area compared with the typical county equivalent
Liberty County835.6 mi²
Florida median696.5 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 Liberty County at #1,098 nationally by total area, 92 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 0.9%, compared with a national county-equivalent median of 1.2% — 0.3 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 Liberty County in the national ranking. They can be in different states and are not necessarily geographic neighbors.

Land rankCounty equivalentLand mi²Comparison
#1005Ward County, Texas835.6Compare
#1006Liberty County, Florida835.6This county
#1007Wake County, North Carolina834.8Compare

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 30.259849, -84.868580. 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: 2,164,099,102 m²; AWATER: 19,582,446 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 Liberty County?

Liberty County, Florida has 835.6 square miles (2,164.1 km²) of land and 7.561 square miles of water, for a total area of 843.1 square miles. It ranks #1006 of 3,222 U.S. county equivalents by land area.

Is Liberty County the largest county in Florida?

No. Liberty County ranks #23 of 67 in Florida by land area. The largest is Collier County, with 1,997 square miles of land.

What counties border Liberty County?

Liberty County shares a land border with Franklin County, Calhoun County, Gadsden County, Wakulla County, Gulf County, and Leon County.

What is the population of Liberty County?

The Census Bureau estimates Liberty County had 8,035 residents on July 1, 2025, ranking #2,643 of 3,222 county equivalents. That is 9.6 people per square mile of land.

What is the county seat of Liberty County?

The county seat of Liberty County is Bristol.

Is Liberty County part of a metropolitan area?

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

How many ZIP codes are in Liberty County?

3 ZIP Code Tabulation Areas have land in Liberty County, and 3 of them have most of their land inside the county. Census ZIP Code Tabulation Areas approximate USPS ZIP Code areas.

How does Liberty 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 Liberty County?

The land measurement converts to approximately 534,760 acres. Including water, total area is approximately 539,599 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