Champaign County area

Population and density of Champaign County

The Census Bureau estimates that 209,972 people lived in Champaign County on July 1, 2025. That ranks #345 of 3,222 county equivalents nationally and #10 of 102 in Illinois. Since the April 1, 2020 estimates base of 206,445, the population has grown by 3,527 (+1.7%), compared with −0.8% for Illinois as a whole.

With 996.1 square miles of land, that is 211 people per square mile (81 per km²), placing Champaign County #618 nationally for density and #14 in Illinois. The median county equivalent has 47 people per square mile; the Illinois median is 44. Put another way, there are about 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 Champaign County

24 incorporated places lie at least partly in Champaign County. Together they are home to 180,610 people (86%); the other 29,362 (14%) live outside any incorporated place, in unincorporated communities and rural areas.

The largest is Champaign city, with 91,195 residents in the county. The county seat, Urbana city, has 39,719 residents. Among places with at least 1,000 residents in 2020, Mahomet village grew fastest since then (+11.8%).

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

Metropolitan area

Champaign County is a central county of the Champaign-Urbana, IL Metropolitan Statistical Area. Its 3 county equivalents have 239,979 residents on 1,920.9 square miles of land; Champaign County accounts for 51.9% of the land and 87.5% of the residents. By combined land it ranks #164 of 393 metropolitan areas, and #204 by population. It belongs to the Champaign-Urbana-Danville, IL Combined Statistical Area.

ZIP codes

35 ZIP Code Tabulation Areas have land in Champaign County; 29 of them have most of their land inside the county, and the others mainly cover neighboring areas.

6093660949609576096061801618026181061815618166182061821618226184061843618456184761849618516185261853618596186261863618646186661871618726187361874618756187761878618806188461956

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 Champaign County

Champaign County shares a land border with 5 county equivalents. It has more land than 4 of them. The largest neighbor is McLean County (1,183.2 mi²) and the smallest is Douglas County (416.7 mi²). Together with its neighbors, Champaign County forms a block of 4,419.1 mi² of land, of which it holds 22.5%.

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

Champaign 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 times as much. Illinois’s county land could hold about 56 areas the size of Champaign County.

Another way to picture it: the same land area would fill a square about 31.6 miles (50.8 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 Champaign County?

Champaign County has more land than 2,534 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 Champaign County at #777 nationally by total area, 89 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 0.2%, compared with a national county-equivalent median of 1.2% — 0.9 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 Champaign 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.