Franklin Parish area

Franklin Parish, Louisiana covers 635.1 square miles: 624.3 square miles of land and 10.8 square miles of water. Its county seat is Winnsboro. An estimated 19,002 people lived there in 2025.

Official Census measurements · GEOID 220412026 Gazetteer · retrieved September 27, 2026
Land area624.3 mi²
Water area10.8 mi²
Population (2025)19,002
People per mi²30

County outline

Generalized outline of Franklin Parish, Louisiana
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 Franklin Parish is located

Franklin Parish highlighted on a map of all U.S. county equivalents. About the maps

Area breakdown

Land accounts for 98.3% of Franklin Parish’s measured area and water for 1.7%. Its combined area converts to 1,645 square kilometers or approximately 406,482 acres.

Green: land · blue: water

MeasurementSquare milesSquare kilometersAcres
Land624.2981,616.924399,550.7
Water10.8328.056,931.2
Total635.1281,644.974406,481.9

How Franklin Parish compares

By original Census land area, Franklin Parish ranks #35 of 64 in Louisiana and #1543 of 3,222 nationally. National rankings include the 50 states, District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.

Its land area is 0.966 times the Louisiana county-equivalent median of 645.9 square miles. It accounts for 1.4% of the combined county land area in the state.

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

Population and density of Franklin Parish

The Census Bureau estimates that 19,002 people lived in Franklin Parish on July 1, 2025. That ranks #1,938 of 3,222 county equivalents nationally and #46 of 64 in Louisiana. Since the April 1, 2020 estimates base of 19,774, the population has declined by 772 (−3.9%), compared with −0.9% for Louisiana as a whole.

With 624.3 square miles of land, that is 30 people per square mile (12 per km²), placing Franklin Parish #1,996 nationally for density and #43 in Louisiana. The median county equivalent has 47 people per square mile; the Louisiana median is 48. Put another way, there are about 21 acres of land per resident.

Estimated population, 2020–2025 · line scaled to this county’s own range
July 1202020212022202320242025
Estimate19,71419,61819,34019,27519,14319,002
Change—−96−278−65−132−141

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 Franklin Parish

4 incorporated places lie at least partly in Franklin Parish. Together they are home to 5,949 people (31.3%); the other 13,053 (68.7%) live outside any incorporated place, in unincorporated communities and rural areas.

The largest is Winnsboro city, with 4,566 residents in the county.

Incorporated placePopulation 2025Since 2020Land mi²
Winnsboro cityCounty seat4,566−6%3.998
Wisner town742−3.8%0.796
Gilbert village436−2.7%1.049
Baskin village205−2.4%1.333

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

Metropolitan area

Franklin Parish is not part of any metropolitan or micropolitan statistical area in the Office of Management and Budget’s July 2023 delineation; 1,306 other county equivalents are also outside one. These areas are built around an urban core of at least 10,000 people plus the counties tied to it by commuting, so counties outside them are generally rural.

ZIP codes

7 ZIP Code Tabulation Areas have land in Franklin Parish; 6 of them have most of their land inside the county, and the others mainly cover neighboring areas.

71219712307123271243712957133671378

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 Franklin Parish

Franklin Parish shares a land border with 5 county equivalents. It has more land than 4 of them. The largest neighbor is Catahoula Parish (709.3 mi²) and the smallest is Caldwell Parish (529.8 mi²). Together with its neighbors, Franklin Parish forms a block of 3,646.1 mi² of land, of which it holds 17.1%.

Map of Franklin Parish and the 5 county equivalents that border it Richland Parish, Louisiana: 555.6 mi² landCatahoula Parish, Louisiana: 709.3 mi² landTensas Parish, Louisiana: 603.3 mi² landMadison Parish, Louisiana: 623.9 mi² landCaldwell Parish, Louisiana: 529.8 mi² land
Franklin Parish (dark) and its bordering county equivalents. Select a neighbor to open its profile. Drawn from the 2025 Census cartographic boundaries in an equal-area projection. How borders are determined.
Bordering county equivalentLand mi²Size vs. FranklinCompare
Catahoula Parish709.31.1× largerCompare
Madison Parish623.9about the sameCompare
Tensas Parish603.3about the sameCompare
Richland Parish555.61.1× smallerCompare
Caldwell Parish529.81.2× smallerCompare

How big is Franklin Parish compared with U.S. states?

Franklin Parish has less land than any of the 50 states. Rhode Island, the smallest state by land area, has 1,033.9 mi², about 1.7 times as much. Louisiana’s county land could hold about 69 areas the size of Franklin Parish.

Land area: Franklin Parish and the closest-sized states
Franklin Parish624.3 mi²
Rhode Island1,033.9 mi²

Another way to picture it: the same land area would fill a square about 25 miles (40.2 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 Franklin Parish?

Franklin Parish has more land than 1,679 of the other 3,221 county equivalents in the dataset.

Land area compared with the typical county equivalent
Franklin Parish624.3 mi²
Louisiana median645.9 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 Franklin Parish at #1,628 nationally by total area, 85 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 1.7%, compared with a national county-equivalent median of 1.2% — 0.5 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 Franklin Parish in the national ranking. They can be in different states and are not necessarily geographic neighbors.

Land rankCounty equivalentLand mi²Comparison
#1542Newton County, Missouri624.8Compare
#1543Franklin Parish, Louisiana624.3This county
#1544Miller County, Arkansas624.1Compare

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 32.139076, -91.672371. 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: 1,616,925,541 m²; AWATER: 28,050,172 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 big is Franklin Parish?

Franklin Parish, Louisiana has 624.3 square miles (1,616.9 km²) of land and 10.8 square miles of water, for a total area of 635.1 square miles. It ranks #1543 of 3,222 U.S. county equivalents by land area.

Is Franklin Parish the largest county in Louisiana?

No. Franklin Parish ranks #35 of 64 in Louisiana by land area. The largest is Vernon Parish, with 1,326.7 square miles of land.

What counties border Franklin Parish?

Franklin Parish shares a land border with Richland Parish, Catahoula Parish, Tensas Parish, Madison Parish, and Caldwell Parish.

What is the population of Franklin Parish?

The Census Bureau estimates Franklin Parish had 19,002 residents on July 1, 2025, ranking #1,938 of 3,222 county equivalents. That is 30 people per square mile of land.

What is the county seat of Franklin Parish?

The county seat of Franklin Parish is Winnsboro.

What cities and towns are in Franklin Parish?

Franklin Parish has 4 incorporated places. The most populous are Winnsboro city, Wisner town, Gilbert village, and Baskin village; 13,053 residents live outside any incorporated place.

Is Franklin Parish part of a metropolitan area?

No. Franklin Parish is outside every metropolitan and micropolitan statistical area in the July 2023 OMB delineation.

How many ZIP codes are in Franklin Parish?

7 ZIP Code Tabulation Areas have land in Franklin Parish, and 6 of them have most of their land inside the county. Census ZIP Code Tabulation Areas approximate USPS ZIP Code areas.

How does Franklin Parish compare with U.S. states?

It has less land than every state. Rhode Island, the smallest, has 1.7 times as much land.

How many acres of land are in Franklin Parish?

The land measurement converts to approximately 399,551 acres. Including water, total area is approximately 406,482 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