Laurel County area

Population and density of Laurel County

The Census Bureau estimates that 63,746 people lived in Laurel County on July 1, 2025. That ranks #868 of 3,222 county equivalents nationally and #15 of 120 in Kentucky. Since the April 1, 2020 estimates base of 62,613, the population has grown by 1,133 (+1.8%), compared with +2.2% for Kentucky as a whole.

With 433.7 square miles of land, that is 147 people per square mile (57 per km²), placing Laurel County #784 nationally for density and #20 in Kentucky. The median county equivalent has 47 people per square mile; the Kentucky median is 59. Put another way, there are about 4.4 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 Laurel County

2 incorporated places lie at least partly in Laurel County. Together they are home to 7,638 people (12%); the other 56,108 (88%) live outside any incorporated place, in unincorporated communities and rural areas.

The largest is London city, with 7,637 residents in the county.

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

Metropolitan area

Laurel County is a central county of the Corbin, KY Micropolitan Statistical Area. Its 4 county equivalents have 150,040 residents on 1,727.3 square miles of land; Laurel County accounts for 25.1% of the land and 42.5% of the residents. By combined land it ranks #94 of 542 micropolitan areas, and #8 by population. It belongs to the Middlesborough-Corbin, KY Combined Statistical Area.

ZIP codes

8 ZIP Code Tabulation Areas have land in Laurel County; 5 of them have most of their land inside the county, and the others mainly cover neighboring areas.

4070140729407344073740740407414074440962

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 Laurel County

Laurel County shares a land border with 7 county equivalents. It has more land than 4 of them. The largest neighbor is Pulaski County (658.1 mi²) and the smallest is Rockcastle County (316.6 mi²). Together with its neighbors, Laurel County forms a block of 3,473.9 mi² of land, of which it holds 12.5%.

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

Laurel County has less land than any of the 50 states. Rhode Island, the smallest state by land area, has 1,033.9 mi², about 2.4 times as much. Kentucky’s county land could hold about 91 areas the size of Laurel County.

Another way to picture it: the same land area would fill a square about 20.8 miles (33.5 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 Laurel County?

Laurel County has more land than 882 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 Laurel County at #2,373 nationally by total area, 33 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 2.3%, compared with a national county-equivalent median of 1.2% — 1.1 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 Laurel 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.