Bell County area

Population and density of Bell County

The Census Bureau estimates that 22,829 people lived in Bell County on July 1, 2025. That ranks #1,742 of 3,222 county equivalents nationally and #51 of 120 in Kentucky. Since the April 1, 2020 estimates base of 24,096, the population has declined by 1,267 (−5.3%), compared with +2.2% for Kentucky as a whole.

With 359 square miles of land, that is 64 people per square mile (25 per km²), placing Bell County #1,342 nationally for density and #59 in Kentucky. The median county equivalent has 47 people per square mile; the Kentucky median is 59. Put another way, there are about 10 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 Bell County

2 incorporated places lie at least partly in Bell County. Together they are home to 10,328 people (45.2%); the other 12,501 (54.8%) live outside any incorporated place, in unincorporated communities and rural areas.

The largest is Middlesborough city, with 8,776 residents in the county. The county seat, Pineville city, has 1,552 residents.

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

Metropolitan area

Bell County is a central county of the Middlesborough, KY Micropolitan Statistical Area. Bell County is the area’s only county equivalent, so the micro area has the same 359 square miles of land. By combined land it ranks #509 of 542 micropolitan areas, and #493 by population. It belongs to the Middlesborough-Corbin, KY Combined Statistical Area.

ZIP codes

11 ZIP Code Tabulation Areas have land in Bell County, and each lies mostly inside the county.

4081340845408564090240913409394094040958409654097740988

ZIP Code Tabulation Areas are the Census Bureau’s approximations of USPS ZIP Code service areas, from the 2020 Census relationship files. Post-office-box and single-address ZIP Codes have no tabulation area.

Counties bordering Bell County

Bell County shares a land border with 7 county equivalents, including 2 in Tennessee and Virginia. Each of them has more land than Bell County. The largest neighbor is Clay County (469.3 mi²) and the smallest is Knox County (386.3 mi²). Together with its neighbors, Bell County forms a block of 3,389.3 mi² of land, of which it holds 10.6%.

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

Bell County has less land than any of the 50 states. Rhode Island, the smallest state by land area, has 1,033.9 mi², about 2.9 times as much. Kentucky’s county land could hold about 110 areas the size of Bell County.

Another way to picture it: the same land area would fill a square about 18.9 miles (30.5 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 Bell County?

Bell County has more land than 564 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 Bell County at #2,712 nationally by total area, 54 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 Bell 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.