Calhoun County area

Calhoun County, Mississippi covers 588 square miles: 586.6 square miles of land and 1.386 square miles of water. Its county seat is Pittsboro. An estimated 12,643 people lived there in 2025.

Official Census measurements · GEOID 280132026 Gazetteer · retrieved September 27, 2026
Land area586.6 mi²
Water area1.386 mi²
Population (2025)12,643
People per mi²22

County outline

Generalized outline of Calhoun County, Mississippi
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 Calhoun County is located

Calhoun County highlighted on a map of all U.S. county equivalents. About the maps

Area breakdown

Land accounts for 99.8% of Calhoun County’s measured area and water for 0.2%. Its combined area converts to 1,522.8 square kilometers or approximately 376,294 acres.

Green: land · blue: water

MeasurementSquare milesSquare kilometersAcres
Land586.5731,519.217375,406.7
Water1.3863.59887
Total587.9591,522.807376,293.8

How Calhoun County compares

By original Census land area, Calhoun County ranks #36 of 82 in Mississippi and #1673 of 3,222 nationally. National rankings include the 50 states, District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.

Its land area is 1.034 times the Mississippi county-equivalent median of 567 square miles. It accounts for 1.3% of the combined county land area in the state.

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

Population and density of Calhoun County

The Census Bureau estimates that 12,643 people lived in Calhoun County on July 1, 2025. That ranks #2,312 of 3,222 county equivalents nationally and #60 of 82 in Mississippi. Since the April 1, 2020 estimates base of 13,266, the population has declined by 623 (−4.7%), compared with −0.2% for Mississippi as a whole.

With 586.6 square miles of land, that is 22 people per square mile (8.3 per km²), placing Calhoun County #2,270 nationally for density and #63 in Mississippi. The median county equivalent has 47 people per square mile; the Mississippi median is 43. Put another way, there are about 30 acres of land per resident.

Estimated population, 2020–2025 · line scaled to this county’s own range
July 1202020212022202320242025
Estimate13,22312,97512,91512,73912,71512,643
Change—−248−60−176−24−72

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 Calhoun County

7 incorporated places lie at least partly in Calhoun County. Together they are home to 5,419 people (42.9%); the other 7,224 (57.1%) live outside any incorporated place, in unincorporated communities and rural areas.

The largest is Bruce town, with 1,608 residents in the county. The county seat, Pittsboro village, has 155 residents.

Incorporated placePopulation 2025Since 2020Land mi²
Bruce town1,608−5.9%2.436
Calhoun City town1,459−4.9%2.357
Vardaman town1,060−5.3%1.357
Derma town914−5.1%1.771
Pittsboro villageCounty seat155−4.3%0.981
Big Creek village124−6.1%1.135
Slate Springs village99−4.8%1.418

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

Metropolitan area

Calhoun 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

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

388393885038864388783891338914389153891638929389513896539744

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 Calhoun County

Calhoun County shares a land border with 6 county equivalents. It has more land than 5 of them. The largest neighbor is Lafayette County (631.7 mi²) and the smallest is Webster County (421.2 mi²). Together with its neighbors, Calhoun County forms a block of 3,528.3 mi² of land, of which it holds 16.6%.

Map of Calhoun County and the 6 county equivalents that border it Chickasaw County, Mississippi: 501.8 mi² landYalobusha County, Mississippi: 467.2 mi² landWebster County, Mississippi: 421.2 mi² landLafayette County, Mississippi: 631.7 mi² landPontotoc County, Mississippi: 497.8 mi² landGrenada County, Mississippi: 422.1 mi² land
Calhoun County (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. CalhounCompare
Lafayette County631.71.1× largerCompare
Chickasaw County501.81.2× smallerCompare
Pontotoc County497.81.2× smallerCompare
Yalobusha County467.21.3× smallerCompare
Grenada County422.11.4× smallerCompare
Webster County421.21.4× smallerCompare

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

Calhoun County has less land than any of the 50 states. Rhode Island, the smallest state by land area, has 1,033.9 mi², about 1.8 times as much. Mississippi’s county land could hold about 80 areas the size of Calhoun County.

Land area: Calhoun County and the closest-sized states
Calhoun County586.6 mi²
Rhode Island1,033.9 mi²

Another way to picture it: the same land area would fill a square about 24.2 miles (39 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 Calhoun County?

Calhoun County has more land than 1,549 of the other 3,221 county equivalents in the dataset.

Land area compared with the typical county equivalent
Calhoun County586.6 mi²
Mississippi median567 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 Calhoun County at #1,786 nationally by total area, 113 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 0.2%, compared with a national county-equivalent median of 1.2% — 0.9 percentage points lower. 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 Calhoun County in the national ranking. They can be in different states and are not necessarily geographic neighbors.

Land rankCounty equivalentLand mi²Comparison
#1672Canyon County, Idaho587Compare
#1673Calhoun County, Mississippi586.6This county
#1674Iowa County, Iowa586.5Compare

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 33.936634, -89.337114. 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: 1,519,218,297 m²; AWATER: 3,590,388 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 Calhoun County?

Calhoun County, Mississippi has 586.6 square miles (1,519.2 km²) of land and 1.386 square miles of water, for a total area of 588 square miles. It ranks #1673 of 3,222 U.S. county equivalents by land area.

Is Calhoun County the largest county in Mississippi?

No. Calhoun County ranks #36 of 82 in Mississippi by land area. The largest is Yazoo County, with 922.3 square miles of land.

What counties border Calhoun County?

Calhoun County shares a land border with Chickasaw County, Yalobusha County, Webster County, Lafayette County, Pontotoc County, and Grenada County.

What is the population of Calhoun County?

The Census Bureau estimates Calhoun County had 12,643 residents on July 1, 2025, ranking #2,312 of 3,222 county equivalents. That is 22 people per square mile of land.

What is the county seat of Calhoun County?

The county seat of Calhoun County is Pittsboro.

What cities and towns are in Calhoun County?

Calhoun County has 7 incorporated places. The most populous five are Bruce town, Calhoun City town, Vardaman town, Derma town, and Pittsboro village; 7,224 residents live outside any incorporated place.

Is Calhoun County part of a metropolitan area?

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

How many ZIP codes are in Calhoun County?

12 ZIP Code Tabulation Areas have land in Calhoun County, and 7 of them have most of their land inside the county. Census ZIP Code Tabulation Areas approximate USPS ZIP Code areas.

How does Calhoun County compare with U.S. states?

It has less land than every state. Rhode Island, the smallest, has 1.8 times as much land.

How many acres of land are in Calhoun County?

The land measurement converts to approximately 375,407 acres. Including water, total area is approximately 376,294 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

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