DeSoto County area

Population and density of DeSoto County

The Census Bureau estimates that 197,918 people lived in DeSoto County on July 1, 2025. That ranks #363 of 3,222 county equivalents nationally and #3 of 82 in Mississippi. Since the April 1, 2020 estimates base of 185,313, the population has grown by 12,605 (+6.8%), compared with −0.2% for Mississippi as a whole.

With 476.4 square miles of land, that is 415 people per square mile (160 per km²), placing DeSoto County #401 nationally for density and #1 in Mississippi. The median county equivalent has 47 people per square mile; the Mississippi median is 43. Put another way, there are about 1.5 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 DeSoto County

5 incorporated places lie at least partly in DeSoto County. Together they are home to 152,367 people (77%); the other 45,551 (23%) live outside any incorporated place, in unincorporated communities and rural areas.

The largest is Southaven city, with 57,819 residents in the county. The county seat, Hernando city, has 18,824 residents. By land, Olive Branch city is the largest at 56.1 mi². Among places with at least 1,000 residents in 2020, Hernando city grew fastest since then (+9.8%).

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

Metropolitan area

DeSoto County is a central county of the Memphis, TN-MS-AR Metropolitan Statistical Area. Its 9 county equivalents have 1,341,412 residents on 4,972.4 square miles of land; DeSoto County accounts for 9.6% of the land and 14.8% of the residents. By combined land it ranks #52 of 393 metropolitan areas, and #46 by population. It belongs to the Memphis-Clarksdale-Forrest City, TN-MS-AR Combined Statistical Area.

ZIP codes

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

38611386183863238637386413865138654386713867238680

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 DeSoto County

DeSoto County shares a land border with 5 county equivalents, including 2 in Tennessee and Arkansas. It has more land than 2 of them. The largest neighbor is Shelby County (752.8 mi²) and the smallest is Tate County (404.8 mi²). Together with its neighbors, DeSoto County forms a block of 3,406.1 mi² of land, of which it holds 14%.

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

DeSoto County has less land than any of the 50 states. Rhode Island, the smallest state by land area, has 1,033.9 mi², about 2.2 times as much. Mississippi’s county land could hold about 98 areas the size of DeSoto County.

Another way to picture it: the same land area would fill a square about 21.8 miles (35.1 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 DeSoto County?

DeSoto County has more land than 1,058 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 DeSoto County at #2,199 nationally by total area, 35 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 3.9%, compared with a national county-equivalent median of 1.2% — 2.7 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 DeSoto 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.