Hart County area

Hart County, Georgia covers 256.9 square miles: 232.4 square miles of land and 24.5 square miles of water. Its county seat is Hartwell. An estimated 28,639 people lived there in 2025.

Official Census measurements · GEOID 131472026 Gazetteer · retrieved September 27, 2026
Land area232.4 mi²
Water area24.5 mi²
Population (2025)28,639
People per mi²123

County outline

Generalized outline of Hart County, Georgia
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 Hart County is located

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

Area breakdown

Land accounts for 90.5% of Hart County’s measured area and water for 9.5%. Its combined area converts to 665.5 square kilometers or approximately 164,447 acres.

Green: land · blue: water

MeasurementSquare milesSquare kilometersAcres
Land232.423601.973148,750.7
Water24.52563.51915,696
Total256.948665.492164,446.7

How Hart County compares

By original Census land area, Hart County ranks #127 of 159 in Georgia and #2947 of 3,222 nationally. National rankings include the 50 states, District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.

Its land area is 0.678 times the Georgia county-equivalent median of 342.7 square miles. It accounts for 0.4% of the combined county land area in the state.

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

Population and density of Hart County

The Census Bureau estimates that 28,639 people lived in Hart County on July 1, 2025. That ranks #1,531 of 3,222 county equivalents nationally and #69 of 159 in Georgia. Since the April 1, 2020 estimates base of 25,830, the population has grown by 2,809 (+10.9%), compared with +5.5% for Georgia as a whole.

With 232.4 square miles of land, that is 123 people per square mile (48 per km²), placing Hart County #861 nationally for density and #53 in Georgia. The median county equivalent has 47 people per square mile; the Georgia median is 69. Put another way, there are about 5.2 acres of land per resident.

Estimated population, 2020–2025 · line scaled to this county’s own range
July 1202020212022202320242025
Estimate25,87226,29526,81327,53328,14928,639
Change—+423+518+720+616+490

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 Hart County

5 incorporated places lie at least partly in Hart County. Together they are home to 6,051 people (21.1%); the other 22,588 (78.9%) live outside any incorporated place, in unincorporated communities and rural areas.

The largest is Hartwell city, with 4,914 residents in the county.

Incorporated placePopulation 2025Since 2020Land mi²
Hartwell cityCounty seat4,914+10.5%5.555
Royston cityAlso in 2 other counties673+2.1%3.329
Bowersville town427+8.4%2.189
Canon cityAlso in 1 other county37+12.1%3.121
Lavonia cityAlso in 1 other county0—4.496

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

Metropolitan area

Hart 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

8 ZIP Code Tabulation Areas have land in Hart County; 3 of them have most of their land inside the county, and the others mainly cover neighboring areas.

3051630520305533062430634306353064330662

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 Hart County

Hart County shares a land border with 5 county equivalents, including 2 in South Carolina. Each of them has more land than Hart County. The largest neighbor is Anderson County (713.9 mi²) and the smallest is Franklin County (261.6 mi²). Together with its neighbors, Hart County forms a block of 2,467.9 mi² of land, of which it holds 9.4%.

Map of Hart County and the 5 county equivalents that border it Anderson County, South Carolina: 713.9 mi² landElbert County, Georgia: 351.1 mi² landFranklin County, Georgia: 261.6 mi² landMadison County, Georgia: 282.3 mi² landOconee County, South Carolina: 626.6 mi² land
Hart 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. HartCompare
Anderson CountySouth Carolina713.93.1× largerCompare
Oconee CountySouth Carolina626.62.7× largerCompare
Elbert County351.11.5× largerCompare
Madison County282.31.2× largerCompare
Franklin County261.61.1× largerCompare

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

Hart County has less land than any of the 50 states. Rhode Island, the smallest state by land area, has 1,033.9 mi², about 4.4 times as much. Georgia’s county land could hold about 248 areas the size of Hart County.

Land area: Hart County and the closest-sized states
Hart County232.4 mi²
Rhode Island1,033.9 mi²

Another way to picture it: the same land area would fill a square about 15.2 miles (24.5 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 Hart County?

Hart County has more land than 275 of the other 3,221 county equivalents in the dataset.

Land area compared with the typical county equivalent
Hart County232.4 mi²
Georgia median342.7 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 Hart County at #2,932 nationally by total area, 15 places closer to the top than its land rank. The water assigned to this geography moves it ahead of some county equivalents with more land.

Its water share is 9.5%, compared with a national county-equivalent median of 1.2% — 8.4 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 Hart County in the national ranking. They can be in different states and are not necessarily geographic neighbors.

Land rankCounty equivalentLand mi²Comparison
#2946Banks County, Georgia232.4Compare
#2947Hart County, Georgia232.4This county
#2948Pickens County, Georgia232.1Compare

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 34.349030, -82.963032. 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: 601,973,877 m²; AWATER: 63,518,171 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 Hart County?

Hart County, Georgia has 232.4 square miles (602 km²) of land and 24.5 square miles of water, for a total area of 256.9 square miles. It ranks #2947 of 3,222 U.S. county equivalents by land area.

Is Hart County the largest county in Georgia?

No. Hart County ranks #127 of 159 in Georgia by land area. The largest is Ware County, with 899.4 square miles of land.

What counties border Hart County?

Hart County shares a land border with Anderson County, South Carolina, Elbert County, Franklin County, Madison County, and Oconee County, South Carolina.

What is the population of Hart County?

The Census Bureau estimates Hart County had 28,639 residents on July 1, 2025, ranking #1,531 of 3,222 county equivalents. That is 123 people per square mile of land.

What is the county seat of Hart County?

The county seat of Hart County is Hartwell.

What cities and towns are in Hart County?

Hart County has 5 incorporated places. The most populous are Hartwell city, Royston city, Bowersville town, Canon city, and Lavonia city; 22,588 residents live outside any incorporated place.

Is Hart County part of a metropolitan area?

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

How many ZIP codes are in Hart County?

8 ZIP Code Tabulation Areas have land in Hart 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 Hart County compare with U.S. states?

It has less land than every state. Rhode Island, the smallest, has 4.4 times as much land.

How many acres of land are in Hart County?

The land measurement converts to approximately 148,751 acres. Including water, total area is approximately 164,447 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