Linn County area

Population and density of Linn County

The Census Bureau estimates that 232,028 people lived in Linn County on July 1, 2025. That ranks #313 of 3,222 county equivalents nationally and #2 of 99 in Iowa. Since the April 1, 2020 estimates base of 230,291, the population has grown by 1,737 (+0.8%), compared with +1.5% for Iowa as a whole.

With 717 square miles of land, that is 324 people per square mile (125 per km²), placing Linn County #482 nationally for density and #3 in Iowa. The median county equivalent has 47 people per square mile; the Iowa median is 26. Put another way, there are about 2 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 Linn County

18 incorporated places lie at least partly in Linn County. Together they are home to 212,902 people (91.8%); the other 19,126 (8.2%) live outside any incorporated place, in unincorporated communities and rural areas.

The largest is Cedar Rapids city, with 137,935 residents in the county. Among places with at least 1,000 residents in 2020, Palo city grew fastest since then (+9.9%).

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

Metropolitan area

Linn County is a central county of the Cedar Rapids, IA Metropolitan Statistical Area. Its 3 county equivalents have 279,285 residents on 2,008.7 square miles of land; Linn County accounts for 35.7% of the land and 83.1% of the residents. By combined land it ranks #157 of 393 metropolitan areas, and #184 by population. It belongs to the Cedar Rapids-Iowa City, IA Combined Statistical Area.

ZIP codes

30 ZIP Code Tabulation Areas have land in Linn County; 21 of them have most of their land inside the county, and the others mainly cover neighboring areas.

522025220352205522135221452218522195222752228522335225352302523055231052314523245232852332523365233852341523445235152352524015240252403524045240552411

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 Linn County

Linn County shares a land border with 6 county equivalents. It has more land than every one of them. The largest neighbor is Benton County (716.1 mi²) and the smallest is Buchanan County (571.1 mi²). Together with its neighbors, Linn County forms a block of 4,350 mi² of land, of which it holds 16.5%.

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

Linn County has less land than any of the 50 states. Rhode Island, the smallest state by land area, has 1,033.9 mi², about 1.4 times as much. Iowa’s county land could hold about 78 areas the size of Linn County.

Another way to picture it: the same land area would fill a square about 26.8 miles (43.1 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 Linn County?

Linn County has more land than 1,962 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 Linn County at #1,339 nationally by total area, 79 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 1.1%, compared with a national county-equivalent median of 1.2% — 0.1 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 Linn 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.