KY · GEOID 21031

Butler County area

Butler County, Kentucky covers 431.5 square miles: 426.1 square miles of land and 5.4 square miles of water.

Official Census measurements2026 Gazetteer · retrieved September 27, 2026
Land area426.1 mi²
Water area5.4 mi²
Total area431.5 mi²
National land rank#2384

County outline

Generalized outline of Butler County, Kentucky
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 Butler County is located

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

Area breakdown

Land accounts for 98.8% of Butler County’s measured area and water for 1.2%. Its combined area converts to 1,117.5 square kilometers or approximately 276,144 acres.

Green: land · blue: water

MeasurementSquare milesSquare kilometersAcres
Land426.1121,103.625272,711.7
Water5.36313.893,432.3
Total431.4751,117.515276,144

How Butler County compares

By original Census land area, Butler County ranks #27 of 120 in Kentucky and #2384 of 3,222 nationally. National rankings include the 50 states, District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.

Its land area is 1.393 times the Kentucky county-equivalent median of 306 square miles. It accounts for 1.1% of the combined county land area in the state.

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

What stands out about Butler County?

Butler County has more land than 838 of the other 3,221 county equivalents in the dataset.

Land area compared with the typical county equivalent
Butler County426.1 mi²
Kentucky median306 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 Butler County at #2,437 nationally by total area, 53 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 Butler County in the national ranking. They can be in different states and are not necessarily geographic neighbors.

Land rankCounty equivalentLand mi²Comparison
#2383Gilmer County, Georgia426.2Compare
#2384Butler County, Kentucky426.1This county
#2385Caswell County, North Carolina425.5Compare

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 37.207013, -86.682471. 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: 1,103,624,031 m²; AWATER: 13,891,042 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 many acres of land are in Butler County?

The land measurement converts to approximately 272,712 acres. Including water, total area is approximately 276,144 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