Upson County area

Population and density of Upson County

The Census Bureau estimates that 28,500 people lived in Upson County on July 1, 2025. That ranks #1,536 of 3,222 county equivalents nationally and #70 of 159 in Georgia. Since the April 1, 2020 estimates base of 27,704, the population has grown by 796 (+2.9%), compared with +5.5% for Georgia as a whole.

With 323.5 square miles of land, that is 88 people per square mile (34 per km²), placing Upson County #1,085 nationally for density and #65 in Georgia. The median county equivalent has 47 people per square mile; the Georgia median is 69. Put another way, there are about 7.3 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 Upson County

2 incorporated places lie at least partly in Upson County. Together they are home to 10,482 people (36.8%); the other 18,018 (63.2%) live outside any incorporated place, in unincorporated communities and rural areas.

The largest is Thomaston city, with 9,852 residents in the county.

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

Metropolitan area

Upson County is a central county of the Thomaston, GA Micropolitan Statistical Area. Upson County is the area’s only county equivalent, so the micro area has the same 323.5 square miles of land. By combined land it ranks #516 of 542 micropolitan areas, and #453 by population. It belongs to the Atlanta--Athens-Clarke County--Sandy Springs, GA-AL Combined Statistical Area.

ZIP codes

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

30204302563025830285302863101631097

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 Upson County

Upson County shares a land border with 7 county equivalents. It has more land than 2 of them. The largest neighbor is Meriwether County (500.9 mi²) and the smallest is Lamar County (183.5 mi²). Together with its neighbors, Upson County forms a block of 2,713 mi² of land, of which it holds 11.9%.

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

Upson County has less land than any of the 50 states. Rhode Island, the smallest state by land area, has 1,033.9 mi², about 3.2 times as much. Georgia’s county land could hold about 178 areas the size of Upson County.

Another way to picture it: the same land area would fill a square about 18 miles (28.9 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 Upson County?

Upson County has more land than 467 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 Upson County at #2,792 nationally by total area, 37 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 1.2%, compared with a national county-equivalent median of 1.2%. The two percentages are within 0.1 percentage points of each other. 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 Upson 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.