County outline
Where Marshall County is located
Area breakdown
Land accounts for 97.9% of Marshall County’s measured area and water for 2.1%. Its combined area converts to 4,695.4 square kilometers or approximately 1,160,258 acres.
Green: land · blue: water
| Measurement | Square miles | Square kilometers | Acres |
|---|---|---|---|
| Land | 1,775.06 | 4,597.384 | 1,136,038.4 |
| Water | 37.843 | 98.013 | 24,219.5 |
| Total | 1,812.903 | 4,695.397 | 1,160,257.9 |
How Marshall County compares
By original Census land area, Marshall County ranks #10 of 87 in Minnesota and #335 of 3,222 nationally. National rankings include the 50 states, District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.
Its land area is 2.631 times the Minnesota county-equivalent median of 674.6 square miles. It accounts for 2.2% of the combined county land area in the state.
See the complete Minnesota ranking · What counts as a county equivalent?
Population and density of Marshall County
The Census Bureau estimates that 8,798 people lived in Marshall County on July 1, 2025. That ranks #2,584 of 3,222 county equivalents nationally and #73 of 87 in Minnesota. Since the April 1, 2020 estimates base of 9,031, the population has declined by 233 (−2.6%), compared with +2.2% for Minnesota as a whole.
With 1,775.1 square miles of land, that is 5 people per square mile (1.9 per km²), placing Marshall County #2,855 nationally for density and #83 in Minnesota. The median county equivalent has 47 people per square mile; the Minnesota median is 27. Put another way, there are about 129 acres of land per resident.
| July 1 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Estimate | 9,025 | 8,998 | 8,873 | 8,828 | 8,788 | 8,798 |
| Change | — | −27 | −125 | −45 | −40 | +10 |
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 Marshall County
Marshall County is divided into 60 municipalities and townships. In Minnesota, county subdivisions are local governments, and together they cover all of the county’s land and residents.
The most populous is Warren city, with 1,558 residents (17.7% of the county). The largest by land is Excel township, at 46.8 mi², or 2.6% of the county’s land.
| County subdivision | Population 2025 | Since 2020 | Land mi² | Share of county land |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Warren cityCounty seat | 1,558 | −2.8% | 1.456 | 0.1% |
| Stephen city | 581 | −1.9% | 0.787 | 0% |
| Argyle city | 531 | −2% | 1.508 | 0.1% |
| Alvarado city | 390 | −2% | 0.209 | 0% |
| Newfolden city | 345 | −2.5% | 1.016 | 0.1% |
| New Solum township | 302 | −2.6% | 46.3 | 2.6% |
| Excel township | 297 | −3.6% | 46.8 | 2.6% |
| Middle River city | 296 | −2.6% | 0.497 | 0% |
| McCrea township | 241 | −3.6% | 45 | 2.5% |
| Oslo city | 239 | −0.4% | 0.371 | 0% |
| Spruce Valley township | 232 | −3.7% | 36.3 | 2% |
| New Folden township | 212 | −2.8% | 34.8 | 2% |
| New Maine township | 196 | −2.5% | 36.9 | 2.1% |
| Grygla city | 171 | −1.7% | 0.578 | 0% |
| Viking township | 169 | −2.9% | 45.1 | 2.5% |
Show the other 45 subdivisions
| Name | Population 2025 | Since 2020 | Land mi² |
|---|---|---|---|
| West Valley township | 153 | −2.5% | 36.3 |
| Valley township | 128 | −3% | 33.8 |
| Vega township | 125 | −2.3% | 45 |
| Nelson Park township | 122 | −2.4% | 36.1 |
| Marsh Grove township | 118 | −2.5% | 35.9 |
| Holt township | 117 | −2.5% | 33.8 |
| Comstock township | 114 | −2.6% | 45.3 |
| Oak Park township | 107 | −2.7% | 38.8 |
| Agder township | 106 | −2.8% | 44.3 |
| Rollis township | 101 | −2.9% | 36 |
| Warrenton township | 98 | −3% | 35.4 |
| Moylan township | 93 | −3.1% | 45.1 |
| Wright township | 90 | −2.2% | 36 |
| Holt city | 87 | −2.2% | 1.002 |
| Viking city | 79 | −2.5% | 0.516 |
| Foldahl township | 78 | −2.5% | 36.3 |
| Lincoln township | 77 | −2.5% | 35.6 |
| Alma township | 76 | −2.6% | 36.4 |
| Cedar township | 74 | −2.6% | 32 |
| Tamarac township | 74 | −2.6% | 35.3 |
| Middle River township | 73 | −2.7% | 34.8 |
| Bloomer township | 69 | −2.8% | 36.5 |
| Huntly township | 69 | −2.8% | 36.1 |
| Strandquist city | 68 | −2.9% | 0.261 |
| Eckvoll township | 67 | −2.9% | 35.5 |
| Wanger township | 67 | −2.9% | 36 |
| Augsburg township | 66 | −2.9% | 36.2 |
| Grand Plain township | 56 | −3.4% | 44.8 |
| Boxville township | 49 | −2% | 8.354 |
| Como township | 46 | −2.1% | 36.3 |
| Veldt township | 43 | −2.3% | 35.4 |
| Whiteford township | 39 | −2.5% | 35.2 |
| East Valley township | 38 | −2.6% | 21.9 |
| Big Woods township | 36 | −2.7% | 30.6 |
| Parker township | 36 | −2.7% | 36 |
| Espelie township | 34 | −2.9% | 44.6 |
| Thief Lake township | 30 | −3.2% | 28.1 |
| East Park township | 27 | −3.6% | 33.8 |
| Moose River township | 27 | −3.6% | 33.9 |
| Sinnott township | 25 | −3.8% | 36.1 |
| Linsell township | 20 | −4.8% | 35.9 |
| Donnelly township | 18 | −5.3% | 36.1 |
| Eagle Point township | 11 | 0% | 28 |
| Fork township | 7 | 0% | 26.6 |
| Mud Lake UT | 0 | — | 31.6 |
Population: U.S. Census Bureau Vintage 2025 subcounty estimates, counting only the part of each subdivision inside Marshall County. Land: 2026 Census Gazetteer. How communities are listed.
Metropolitan area
Marshall County 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
15 ZIP Code Tabulation Areas have land in Marshall County; 8 of them have most of their land inside the county, and the others mainly cover neighboring areas.
567015671056713567245672556727567325673756738567445675756758567595676056762
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 Marshall County
Marshall County shares a land border with 8 county equivalents, including 3 in North Dakota. It has more land than 6 of them. The largest neighbor is Beltrami County (2,504.7 mi²) and the smallest is Pennington County (616.5 mi²). Together with its neighbors, Marshall County forms a block of 13,474.3 mi² of land, of which it holds 13.2%.
| Bordering county equivalent | Land mi² | Size vs. Marshall | Compare |
|---|---|---|---|
| Beltrami County | 2,504.7 | 1.4× larger | Compare |
| Polk County | 1,971 | 1.1× larger | Compare |
| Roseau County | 1,671.7 | 1.1× smaller | Compare |
| Grand Forks CountyNorth Dakota | 1,436.2 | 1.2× smaller | Compare |
| Walsh CountyNorth Dakota | 1,281.6 | 1.4× smaller | Compare |
| Pembina CountyNorth Dakota | 1,118.5 | 1.6× smaller | Compare |
| Kittson County | 1,099 | 1.6× smaller | Compare |
| Pennington County | 616.5 | 2.9× smaller | Compare |
How big is Marshall County compared with U.S. states?
Marshall County has more land than 1 of the 50 states. It is about 1.7 times the land area of Rhode Island (1,033.9 mi²), while Delaware, the next larger state, has 1.1 times as much land (1,948.6 mi²). Minnesota’s county land could hold about 45 areas the size of Marshall County.
Another way to picture it: the same land area would fill a square about 42.1 miles (67.8 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 Marshall County?
Marshall County has more land than 2,887 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 Marshall County at #365 nationally by total area, 30 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 2.1%, compared with a national county-equivalent median of 1.2% — 0.9 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 Marshall County in the national ranking. They can be in different states and are not necessarily geographic neighbors.
| Land rank | County equivalent | Land mi² | Comparison |
|---|---|---|---|
| #334 | Cheyenne County, Colorado | 1,778.3 | Compare |
| #335 | Marshall County, Minnesota | 1,775.1 | This county |
| #336 | Kiowa County, Colorado | 1,767.8 | Compare |
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 48.362728, -96.357761. 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: 4,597,384,251 m²; AWATER: 98,012,341 m². Rankings use ALAND; exact ties use ascending GEOID. Tables preserve Census-published square miles to three decimals, with conversions based on those values.
Common questions
How big is Marshall County?
Marshall County, Minnesota has 1,775.1 square miles (4,597.4 km²) of land and 37.8 square miles of water, for a total area of 1,812.9 square miles. It ranks #335 of 3,222 U.S. county equivalents by land area.
Is Marshall County the largest county in Minnesota?
No. Marshall County ranks #10 of 87 in Minnesota by land area. The largest is St. Louis County, with 6,248.1 square miles of land.
What counties border Marshall County?
Marshall County shares a land border with Pennington County, Roseau County, Kittson County, Polk County, Beltrami County, Walsh County, North Dakota, Grand Forks County, North Dakota, and Pembina County, North Dakota.
What is the population of Marshall County?
The Census Bureau estimates Marshall County had 8,798 residents on July 1, 2025, ranking #2,584 of 3,222 county equivalents. That is 5 people per square mile of land.
What is the county seat of Marshall County?
The county seat of Marshall County is Warren.
What cities and towns are in Marshall County?
Marshall County has 60 county subdivisions (cities, towns and townships). The most populous five are Warren city, Stephen city, Argyle city, Alvarado city, and Newfolden city.
Is Marshall County part of a metropolitan area?
No. Marshall County is outside every metropolitan and micropolitan statistical area in the July 2023 OMB delineation.
How many ZIP codes are in Marshall County?
15 ZIP Code Tabulation Areas have land in Marshall County, and 8 of them have most of their land inside the county. Census ZIP Code Tabulation Areas approximate USPS ZIP Code areas.
How does Marshall County compare with U.S. states?
It has more land than 1 of the 50 states, including Rhode Island (1,033.9 square miles of land).
How many acres of land are in Marshall County?
The land measurement converts to approximately 1,136,038 acres. Including water, total area is approximately 1,160,258 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.