KY · GEOID 21041

Carroll County area

Carroll County, Kentucky covers 137.3 square miles: 128.7 square miles of land and 8.6 square miles of water.

Official Census measurements2026 Gazetteer · retrieved September 27, 2026
Land area128.7 mi²
Water area8.6 mi²
Total area137.3 mi²
National land rank#3076

County outline

Generalized outline of Carroll 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 Carroll County is located

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

Area breakdown

Land accounts for 93.8% of Carroll County’s measured area and water for 6.2%. Its combined area converts to 355.5 square kilometers or approximately 87,850 acres.

Green: land · blue: water

MeasurementSquare milesSquare kilometersAcres
Land128.7333.33182,368
Water8.56622.1865,482.2
Total137.266355.51787,850.2

How Carroll County compares

By original Census land area, Carroll County ranks #118 of 120 in Kentucky and #3076 of 3,222 nationally. National rankings include the 50 states, District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.

Its land area is 0.421 times the Kentucky county-equivalent median of 306 square miles. It accounts for 0.3% of the combined county land area in the state.

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

What stands out about Carroll County?

Carroll County has more land than 146 of the other 3,221 county equivalents in the dataset.

Land area compared with the typical county equivalent
Carroll County128.7 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 Carroll County at #3,088 nationally by total area, 12 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 6.2%, compared with a national county-equivalent median of 1.2% — 5.1 percentage points higher. 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 Carroll County in the national ranking. They can be in different states and are not necessarily geographic neighbors.

Land rankCounty equivalentLand mi²Comparison
#3075Moore County, Tennessee129.2Compare
#3076Carroll County, Kentucky128.7This county
#3077Rockwall County, Texas127.2Compare

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 38.668394, -85.124024. 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: 333,331,326 m²; AWATER: 22,186,045 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 Carroll County?

The land measurement converts to approximately 82,368 acres. Including water, total area is approximately 87,850 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