Scott County area

Scott County, Indiana covers 192.7 square miles: 190.4 square miles of land and 2.346 square miles of water. Its county seat is Scottsburg. An estimated 25,053 people lived there in 2025.

Official Census measurements · GEOID 181432026 Gazetteer · retrieved September 27, 2026
Land area190.4 mi²
Water area2.346 mi²
Population (2025)25,053
People per mi²132

County outline

Generalized outline of Scott County, Indiana
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 Scott County is located

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

Area breakdown

Land accounts for 98.8% of Scott County’s measured area and water for 1.2%. Its combined area converts to 499.2 square kilometers or approximately 123,359 acres.

Green: land · blue: water

MeasurementSquare milesSquare kilometersAcres
Land190.403493.142121,857.9
Water2.3466.0761,501.4
Total192.749499.218123,359.4

How Scott County compares

By original Census land area, Scott County ranks #88 of 92 in Indiana and #3013 of 3,222 nationally. National rankings include the 50 states, District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.

Its land area is 0.48 times the Indiana county-equivalent median of 396.4 square miles. It accounts for 0.5% of the combined county land area in the state.

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

Population and density of Scott County

The Census Bureau estimates that 25,053 people lived in Scott County on July 1, 2025. That ranks #1,667 of 3,222 county equivalents nationally and #62 of 92 in Indiana. Since the April 1, 2020 estimates base of 24,387, the population has grown by 666 (+2.7%), compared with +2.8% for Indiana as a whole.

With 190.4 square miles of land, that is 132 people per square mile (51 per km²), placing Scott County #833 nationally for density and #29 in Indiana. The median county equivalent has 47 people per square mile; the Indiana median is 88. Put another way, there are about 4.9 acres of land per resident.

Estimated population, 2020–2025 · line scaled to this county’s own range
July 1202020212022202320242025
Estimate24,38124,41424,44224,68724,85225,053
Change—+33+28+245+165+201

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 Scott County

2 incorporated places lie at least partly in Scott County. Together they are home to 11,732 people (46.8%); the other 13,321 (53.2%) live outside any incorporated place, in unincorporated communities and rural areas.

The largest is Scottsburg city, with 7,478 residents in the county. Among places with at least 1,000 residents in 2020, Austin city grew fastest since then (+4.9%).

Incorporated placePopulation 2025Since 2020Land mi²
Scottsburg cityCounty seat7,478+1.7%5.54
Austin city4,254+4.9%3.183

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

Metropolitan area

Scott 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

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

471024713847147471704717747230

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 Scott County

Scott County shares a land border with 5 county equivalents. Each of them has more land than Scott County. The largest neighbor is Washington County (513.7 mi²) and the smallest is Jefferson County (360.7 mi²). Together with its neighbors, Scott County forms a block of 2,323.9 mi² of land, of which it holds 8.2%.

Map of Scott County and the 5 county equivalents that border it Jefferson County, Indiana: 360.7 mi² landClark County, Indiana: 372.5 mi² landWashington County, Indiana: 513.7 mi² landJackson County, Indiana: 510 mi² landJennings County, Indiana: 376.6 mi² land
Scott 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. ScottCompare
Washington County513.72.7× largerCompare
Jackson County5102.7× largerCompare
Jennings County376.62× largerCompare
Clark County372.52× largerCompare
Jefferson County360.71.9× largerCompare

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

Scott County has less land than any of the 50 states. Rhode Island, the smallest state by land area, has 1,033.9 mi², about 5.4 times as much. Indiana’s county land could hold about 188 areas the size of Scott County.

Land area: Scott County and the closest-sized states
Scott County190.4 mi²
Rhode Island1,033.9 mi²

Another way to picture it: the same land area would fill a square about 13.8 miles (22.2 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 Scott County?

Scott County has more land than 209 of the other 3,221 county equivalents in the dataset.

Land area compared with the typical county equivalent
Scott County190.4 mi²
Indiana median396.4 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 Scott County at #3,036 nationally by total area, 23 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 Scott County in the national ranking. They can be in different states and are not necessarily geographic neighbors.

Land rankCounty equivalentLand mi²Comparison
#3012Northumberland County, Virginia191.4Compare
#3013Scott County, Indiana190.4This county
#3014Woodford County, Kentucky189.6Compare

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 38.679431, -85.751898. 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: 493,140,257 m²; AWATER: 6,074,951 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 Scott County?

Scott County, Indiana has 190.4 square miles (493.1 km²) of land and 2.346 square miles of water, for a total area of 192.7 square miles. It ranks #3013 of 3,222 U.S. county equivalents by land area.

Is Scott County the largest county in Indiana?

No. Scott County ranks #88 of 92 in Indiana by land area. The largest is Allen County, with 657.1 square miles of land.

What counties border Scott County?

Scott County shares a land border with Jefferson County, Clark County, Washington County, Jackson County, and Jennings County.

What is the population of Scott County?

The Census Bureau estimates Scott County had 25,053 residents on July 1, 2025, ranking #1,667 of 3,222 county equivalents. That is 132 people per square mile of land.

What is the county seat of Scott County?

The county seat of Scott County is Scottsburg.

What cities and towns are in Scott County?

Scott County has 2 incorporated places. The most populous are Scottsburg city and Austin city; 13,321 residents live outside any incorporated place.

Is Scott County part of a metropolitan area?

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

How many ZIP codes are in Scott County?

6 ZIP Code Tabulation Areas have land in Scott 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 Scott County compare with U.S. states?

It has less land than every state. Rhode Island, the smallest, has 5.4 times as much land.

How many acres of land are in Scott County?

The land measurement converts to approximately 121,858 acres. Including water, total area is approximately 123,359 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