Winona County area

Population and density of Winona County

The Census Bureau estimates that 50,523 people lived in Winona County on July 1, 2025. That ranks #1,019 of 3,222 county equivalents nationally and #19 of 87 in Minnesota. Since the April 1, 2020 estimates base of 49,676, the population has grown by 847 (+1.7%), compared with +2.2% for Minnesota as a whole.

With 626.2 square miles of land, that is 81 people per square mile (31 per km²), placing Winona County #1,150 nationally for density and #18 in Minnesota. The median county equivalent has 47 people per square mile; the Minnesota median is 27. Put another way, there are about 7.9 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 Winona County

Winona County is divided into 32 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 Winona city, with 26,530 residents (52.5% of the county). The largest by land is Fremont township, at 35.8 mi², or 5.7% of the county’s land. Among those with at least 1,000 residents in 2020, Winona city grew fastest since then (+2.1%).

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

Metropolitan area

Winona County is a central county of the Winona, MN Micropolitan Statistical Area. Winona County is the area’s only county equivalent, so the micro area has the same 626.2 square miles of land. By combined land it ranks #341 of 542 micropolitan areas, and #220 by population. It belongs to the Rochester-Austin-Winona, MN Combined Statistical Area.

ZIP codes

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

5591055923559255594355947559525595955962559645596955971559725597955987

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 Winona County

Winona County shares a land border with 7 county equivalents, including 3 in Wisconsin. It has more land than 3 of them. The largest neighbor is Fillmore County (861.3 mi²) and the smallest is La Crosse County (451.8 mi²). Together with its neighbors, Winona County forms a block of 5,076.7 mi² of land, of which it holds 12.3%.

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

Winona County has less land than any of the 50 states. Rhode Island, the smallest state by land area, has 1,033.9 mi², about 1.7 times as much. Minnesota’s county land could hold about 127 areas the size of Winona County.

Another way to picture it: the same land area would fill a square about 25 miles (40.3 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 Winona County?

Winona County has more land than 1,684 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 Winona County at #1,605 nationally by total area, 67 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 2.4%, compared with a national county-equivalent median of 1.2% — 1.2 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 Winona 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.