Branch County area

Population and density of Branch County

The Census Bureau estimates that 45,993 people lived in Branch County on July 1, 2025. That ranks #1,089 of 3,222 county equivalents nationally and #37 of 83 in Michigan. Since the April 1, 2020 estimates base of 44,870, the population has grown by 1,123 (+2.5%), compared with +0.5% for Michigan as a whole.

With 506.4 square miles of land, that is 91 people per square mile (35 per km²), placing Branch County #1,064 nationally for density and #34 in Michigan. The median county equivalent has 47 people per square mile; the Michigan median is 62. Put another way, there are about 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 Branch County

Branch County is divided into 18 municipalities and townships. In Michigan, county subdivisions are local governments, and together they cover all of the county’s land and residents.

The most populous is Coldwater city, with 14,216 residents (30.9% of the county). The largest by land is Bethel township, at 35.8 mi², or 7.1% of the county’s land. Among those with at least 1,000 residents in 2020, Coldwater city grew fastest since then (+5.9%).

Population: U.S. Census Bureau Vintage 2025 subcounty estimates, counting only the part of each subdivision inside Branch County. Land: 2026 Census Gazetteer. How communities are listed.

Metropolitan area

Branch County is a central county of the Coldwater, MI Micropolitan Statistical Area. Branch County is the area’s only county equivalent, so the micro area has the same 506.4 square miles of land. By combined land it ranks #430 of 542 micropolitan areas, and #260 by population.

ZIP codes

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

49011490284903049036490404908249089490924909449245492524925549274

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 Branch County

Branch County shares a land border with 5 county equivalents, including 2 in Indiana. It has more land than 3 of them. The largest neighbor is Calhoun County (706.3 mi²) and the smallest is Steuben County (308.8 mi²). Together with its neighbors, Branch County forms a block of 2,999.9 mi² of land, of which it holds 16.9%.

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

Branch 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 times as much. Michigan’s county land could hold about 112 areas the size of Branch County.

Another way to picture it: the same land area would fill a square about 22.5 miles (36.2 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 Branch County?

Branch County has more land than 1,172 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 Branch County at #2,104 nationally by total area, 54 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 2.6%, compared with a national county-equivalent median of 1.2% — 1.4 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 Branch 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.