Jasper County area

Jasper County, Illinois covers 498.2 square miles: 494.6 square miles of land and 3.604 square miles of water. Its county seat is Newton. An estimated 9,032 people lived there in 2025.

Official Census measurements · GEOID 170792026 Gazetteer · retrieved September 27, 2026
Land area494.6 mi²
Water area3.604 mi²
Population (2025)9,032
People per mi²18

County outline

Generalized outline of Jasper County, Illinois
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 Jasper County is located

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

Area breakdown

Land accounts for 99.3% of Jasper County’s measured area and water for 0.7%. Its combined area converts to 1,290.4 square kilometers or approximately 318,860 acres.

Green: land · blue: water

MeasurementSquare milesSquare kilometersAcres
Land494.6141,281.044316,553
Water3.6049.3342,306.6
Total498.2181,290.379318,859.5

How Jasper County compares

By original Census land area, Jasper County ranks #55 of 102 in Illinois and #2105 of 3,222 nationally. National rankings include the 50 states, District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.

Its land area is 0.969 times the Illinois county-equivalent median of 510.7 square miles. It accounts for 0.9% of the combined county land area in the state.

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

Population and density of Jasper County

The Census Bureau estimates that 9,032 people lived in Jasper County on July 1, 2025. That ranks #2,562 of 3,222 county equivalents nationally and #88 of 102 in Illinois. Since the April 1, 2020 estimates base of 9,299, the population has declined by 267 (−2.9%), compared with −0.8% for Illinois as a whole.

With 494.6 square miles of land, that is 18 people per square mile (7.1 per km²), placing Jasper County #2,378 nationally for density and #95 in Illinois. The median county equivalent has 47 people per square mile; the Illinois median is 44. Put another way, there are about 35 acres of land per resident.

Estimated population, 2020–2025 · line scaled to this county’s own range
July 1202020212022202320242025
Estimate9,2539,2089,1779,1489,0499,032
Change—−45−31−29−99−17

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 Jasper County

7 incorporated places lie at least partly in Jasper County. Together they are home to 3,460 people (38.3%); the other 5,572 (61.7%) live outside any incorporated place, in unincorporated communities and rural areas.

The largest is Newton city, with 2,715 residents in the county.

Incorporated placePopulation 2025Since 2020Land mi²
Newton cityCounty seat2,715−2.5%2.108
Ste. Marie village226−3.4%1.109
Willow Hill village167−2.9%1.039
Hidalgo village107−2.7%0.344
Wheeler village96+1.1%0.576
Rose Hill village84−2.3%0.634
Yale village65−3%0.575

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

Metropolitan area

Jasper 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

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

624206242462425624326243462436624456244862449624596246762475624796248062481

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 Jasper County

Jasper County shares a land border with 6 county equivalents. It has more land than 5 of them. The largest neighbor is Clark County (501.4 mi²) and the smallest is Cumberland County (345.9 mi²). Together with its neighbors, Jasper County forms a block of 3,092.8 mi² of land, of which it holds 16%.

Map of Jasper County and the 6 county equivalents that border it Crawford County, Illinois: 443.6 mi² landCumberland County, Illinois: 345.9 mi² landEffingham County, Illinois: 478.8 mi² landRichland County, Illinois: 360 mi² landClay County, Illinois: 468.4 mi² landClark County, Illinois: 501.4 mi² land
Jasper 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. JasperCompare
Clark County501.4about the sameCompare
Effingham County478.8about the sameCompare
Clay County468.41.1× smallerCompare
Crawford County443.61.1× smallerCompare
Richland County3601.4× smallerCompare
Cumberland County345.91.4× smallerCompare

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

Jasper County has less land than any of the 50 states. Rhode Island, the smallest state by land area, has 1,033.9 mi², about 2.1 times as much. Illinois’s county land could hold about 112 areas the size of Jasper County.

Land area: Jasper County and the closest-sized states
Jasper County494.6 mi²
Rhode Island1,033.9 mi²

Another way to picture it: the same land area would fill a square about 22.2 miles (35.8 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 Jasper County?

Jasper County has more land than 1,117 of the other 3,221 county equivalents in the dataset.

Land area compared with the typical county equivalent
Jasper County494.6 mi²
Illinois median510.7 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 Jasper County at #2,190 nationally by total area, 85 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 0.7%, compared with a national county-equivalent median of 1.2% — 0.4 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 Jasper County in the national ranking. They can be in different states and are not necessarily geographic neighbors.

Land rankCounty equivalentLand mi²Comparison
#2104Mason County, Michigan495Compare
#2105Jasper County, Illinois494.6This county
#2106Madison County, Missouri494.4Compare

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 39.004886, -88.150725. 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: 1,281,043,465 m²; AWATER: 9,334,674 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 Jasper County?

Jasper County, Illinois has 494.6 square miles (1,281 km²) of land and 3.604 square miles of water, for a total area of 498.2 square miles. It ranks #2105 of 3,222 U.S. county equivalents by land area.

Is Jasper County the largest county in Illinois?

No. Jasper County ranks #55 of 102 in Illinois by land area. The largest is McLean County, with 1,183.2 square miles of land.

What counties border Jasper County?

Jasper County shares a land border with Crawford County, Cumberland County, Effingham County, Richland County, Clay County, and Clark County.

What is the population of Jasper County?

The Census Bureau estimates Jasper County had 9,032 residents on July 1, 2025, ranking #2,562 of 3,222 county equivalents. That is 18 people per square mile of land.

What is the county seat of Jasper County?

The county seat of Jasper County is Newton.

What cities and towns are in Jasper County?

Jasper County has 7 incorporated places. The most populous five are Newton city, Ste. Marie village, Willow Hill village, Hidalgo village, and Wheeler village; 5,572 residents live outside any incorporated place.

Is Jasper County part of a metropolitan area?

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

How many ZIP codes are in Jasper County?

15 ZIP Code Tabulation Areas have land in Jasper County, and 7 of them have most of their land inside the county. Census ZIP Code Tabulation Areas approximate USPS ZIP Code areas.

How does Jasper County compare with U.S. states?

It has less land than every state. Rhode Island, the smallest, has 2.1 times as much land.

How many acres of land are in Jasper County?

The land measurement converts to approximately 316,553 acres. Including water, total area is approximately 318,860 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

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