Clarke County area

Population and density of Clarke County

The Census Bureau estimates that 129,921 people lived in Clarke County on July 1, 2025. That ranks #512 of 3,222 county equivalents nationally and #20 of 159 in Georgia. Since the April 1, 2020 estimates base of 128,670, the population has grown by 1,251 (+1%), compared with +5.5% for Georgia as a whole.

With 119.3 square miles of land, that is 1,089 people per square mile (420 per km²), placing Clarke County #174 nationally for density and #7 in Georgia. The median county equivalent has 47 people per square mile; the Georgia median is 69. Put another way, there are about 0.588 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 Clarke County

3 incorporated places lie at least partly in Clarke County. Together they are home to 129,921 people (100%); the other 0 (0%) live outside any incorporated place, in unincorporated communities and rural areas.

The largest is Athens-Clarke County unified government (balance), with 128,612 residents in the county. Among places with at least 1,000 residents in 2020, Athens-Clarke County unified government (balance) grew fastest since then (+1%).

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

Metropolitan area

Clarke County is a central county of the Athens-Clarke County, GA Metropolitan Statistical Area. Its 4 county equivalents have 224,148 residents on 1,025 square miles of land; Clarke County accounts for 11.6% of the land and 58% of the residents. By combined land it ranks #277 of 393 metropolitan areas, and #219 by population. It belongs to the Atlanta--Athens-Clarke County--Sandy Springs, GA-AL Combined Statistical Area.

ZIP codes

9 ZIP Code Tabulation Areas have land in Clarke County; 5 of them have most of their land inside the county, and the others mainly cover neighboring areas.

306013060230605306063060730609306223064630683

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 Clarke County

Clarke County shares a land border with 4 county equivalents. Each of them has more land than Clarke County. The largest neighbor is Oglethorpe County (439.1 mi²) and the smallest is Oconee County (184.4 mi²). Together with its neighbors, Clarke County forms a block of 1,364.7 mi² of land, of which it holds 8.7%.

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

Clarke County has less land than any of the 50 states. Rhode Island, the smallest state by land area, has 1,033.9 mi², about 8.7 times as much. Georgia’s county land could hold about 484 areas the size of Clarke County.

Another way to picture it: the same land area would fill a square about 10.9 miles (17.6 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 Clarke County?

Clarke County has more land than 142 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 Clarke County at #3,095 nationally by total area, 15 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 1.5%, compared with a national county-equivalent median of 1.2% — 0.4 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 Clarke 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.