Hopkins County area

Population and density of Hopkins County

The Census Bureau estimates that 45,127 people lived in Hopkins County on July 1, 2025. That ranks #1,110 of 3,222 county equivalents nationally and #24 of 120 in Kentucky. Since the April 1, 2020 estimates base of 45,420, the population has declined by 293 (−0.6%), compared with +2.2% for Kentucky as a whole.

With 542.3 square miles of land, that is 83 people per square mile (32 per km²), placing Hopkins County #1,124 nationally for density and #44 in Kentucky. The median county equivalent has 47 people per square mile; the Kentucky median is 59. Put another way, there are about 7.7 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 Hopkins County

9 incorporated places lie at least partly in Hopkins County. Together they are home to 26,747 people (59.3%); the other 18,380 (40.7%) live outside any incorporated place, in unincorporated communities and rural areas.

The largest is Madisonville city, with 19,428 residents in the county.

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

Metropolitan area

Hopkins County is a central county of the Madisonville, KY Micropolitan Statistical Area. Hopkins County is the area’s only county equivalent, so the micro area has the same 542.3 square miles of land. By combined land it ranks #409 of 542 micropolitan areas, and #274 by population.

ZIP codes

13 ZIP Code Tabulation Areas have land in Hopkins County; 10 of them have most of their land inside the county, and the others mainly cover neighboring areas.

42408424104241342431424364244042441424424244542450424534245642464

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 Hopkins County

Hopkins County shares a land border with 5 county equivalents. It has more land than 4 of them. The largest neighbor is Christian County (717.8 mi²) and the smallest is McLean County (252.5 mi²). Together with its neighbors, Hopkins County forms a block of 2,656.8 mi² of land, of which it holds 20.4%.

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

Hopkins County has less land than any of the 50 states. Rhode Island, the smallest state by land area, has 1,033.9 mi², about 1.9 times as much. Kentucky’s county land could hold about 73 areas the size of Hopkins County.

Another way to picture it: the same land area would fill a square about 23.3 miles (37.5 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 Hopkins County?

Hopkins County has more land than 1,297 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 Hopkins County at #1,995 nationally by total area, 70 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 2.2%, compared with a national county-equivalent median of 1.2% — 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 Hopkins 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.