Sac County area

Sac County, Iowa covers 578.3 square miles: 575 square miles of land and 3.309 square miles of water. Its county seat is Sac City. An estimated 9,525 people lived there in 2025.

Official Census measurements · GEOID 191612026 Gazetteer · retrieved September 27, 2026
Land area575 mi²
Water area3.309 mi²
Population (2025)9,525
People per mi²17

County outline

Generalized outline of Sac County, Iowa
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 Sac County is located

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

Area breakdown

Land accounts for 99.4% of Sac County’s measured area and water for 0.6%. Its combined area converts to 1,497.9 square kilometers or approximately 370,132 acres.

Green: land · blue: water

MeasurementSquare milesSquare kilometersAcres
Land575.0221,489.3368,014.1
Water3.3098.572,117.8
Total578.3311,497.87370,131.8

How Sac County compares

By original Census land area, Sac County ranks #38 of 99 in Iowa and #1728 of 3,222 nationally. National rankings include the 50 states, District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.

Its land area is 1.01 times the Iowa county-equivalent median of 569.6 square miles. It accounts for 1% of the combined county land area in the state.

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

Population and density of Sac County

The Census Bureau estimates that 9,525 people lived in Sac County on July 1, 2025. That ranks #2,520 of 3,222 county equivalents nationally and #77 of 99 in Iowa. Since the April 1, 2020 estimates base of 9,814, the population has declined by 289 (−2.9%), compared with +1.5% for Iowa as a whole.

With 575 square miles of land, that is 17 people per square mile (6.4 per km²), placing Sac County #2,428 nationally for density and #83 in Iowa. The median county equivalent has 47 people per square mile; the Iowa median is 26. Put another way, there are about 39 acres of land per resident.

Estimated population, 2020–2025 · line scaled to this county’s own range
July 1202020212022202320242025
Estimate9,7919,7669,6759,6969,6149,525
Change—−25−91+21−82−89

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 Sac County

9 incorporated places lie at least partly in Sac County. Together they are home to 6,636 people (69.7%); the other 2,889 (30.3%) live outside any incorporated place, in unincorporated communities and rural areas.

The largest is Sac City city, with 1,993 residents in the county. Among places with at least 1,000 residents in 2020, Lake View city grew fastest since then (+0.2%).

Incorporated placePopulation 2025Since 2020Land mi²
Sac City cityCounty seat1,993−3.3%4.896
Lake View city1,122+0.2%2.153
Odebolt city967−2.8%1.036
Wall Lake city736−2.6%1.145
Schaller city701−3.8%1.259
Early city567−3.7%0.389
Auburn city252−3.8%0.497
Lytton cityAlso in 1 other county233−3.7%0.23
Nemaha city65−3%0.084

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

Metropolitan area

Sac 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

16 ZIP Code Tabulation Areas have land in Sac County; 8 of them have most of their land inside the county, and the others mainly cover neighboring areas.

50535505405056150567505685058350588510205105351431514335143651448514505145851466

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 Sac County

Sac County shares a land border with 5 county equivalents. It has more land than 4 of them. The largest neighbor is Crawford County (714.2 mi²) and the smallest is Ida County (431.5 mi²). Together with its neighbors, Sac County forms a block of 3,434.9 mi² of land, of which it holds 16.7%.

Map of Sac County and the 5 county equivalents that border it Ida County, Iowa: 431.5 mi² landCalhoun County, Iowa: 569.8 mi² landBuena Vista County, Iowa: 574.9 mi² landCarroll County, Iowa: 569.5 mi² landCrawford County, Iowa: 714.2 mi² land
Sac 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. SacCompare
Crawford County714.21.2× largerCompare
Buena Vista County574.9about the sameCompare
Calhoun County569.8about the sameCompare
Carroll County569.5about the sameCompare
Ida County431.51.3× smallerCompare

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

Sac County has less land than any of the 50 states. Rhode Island, the smallest state by land area, has 1,033.9 mi², about 1.8 times as much. Iowa’s county land could hold about 97 areas the size of Sac County.

Land area: Sac County and the closest-sized states
Sac County575 mi²
Rhode Island1,033.9 mi²

Another way to picture it: the same land area would fill a square about 24 miles (38.6 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 Sac County?

Sac County has more land than 1,494 of the other 3,221 county equivalents in the dataset.

Land area compared with the typical county equivalent
Sac County575 mi²
Iowa median569.6 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 Sac County at #1,843 nationally by total area, 115 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 0.6%, compared with a national county-equivalent median of 1.2% — 0.6 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 Sac County in the national ranking. They can be in different states and are not necessarily geographic neighbors.

Land rankCounty equivalentLand mi²Comparison
#1727Nuckolls County, Nebraska575.2Compare
#1728Sac County, Iowa575This county
#1729Stark County, Ohio574.9Compare

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 42.387526, -95.105224. 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: 1,489,300,197 m²; AWATER: 8,569,436 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 Sac County?

Sac County, Iowa has 575 square miles (1,489.3 km²) of land and 3.309 square miles of water, for a total area of 578.3 square miles. It ranks #1728 of 3,222 U.S. county equivalents by land area.

Is Sac County the largest county in Iowa?

No. Sac County ranks #38 of 99 in Iowa by land area. The largest is Kossuth County, with 972.7 square miles of land.

What counties border Sac County?

Sac County shares a land border with Ida County, Calhoun County, Buena Vista County, Carroll County, and Crawford County.

What is the population of Sac County?

The Census Bureau estimates Sac County had 9,525 residents on July 1, 2025, ranking #2,520 of 3,222 county equivalents. That is 17 people per square mile of land.

What is the county seat of Sac County?

The county seat of Sac County is Sac City.

What cities and towns are in Sac County?

Sac County has 9 incorporated places. The most populous five are Sac City city, Lake View city, Odebolt city, Wall Lake city, and Schaller city; 2,889 residents live outside any incorporated place.

Is Sac County part of a metropolitan area?

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

How many ZIP codes are in Sac County?

16 ZIP Code Tabulation Areas have land in Sac County, and 8 of them have most of their land inside the county. Census ZIP Code Tabulation Areas approximate USPS ZIP Code areas.

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

It has less land than every state. Rhode Island, the smallest, has 1.8 times as much land.

How many acres of land are in Sac County?

The land measurement converts to approximately 368,014 acres. Including water, total area is approximately 370,132 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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