MS · GEOID 28045

Hancock County area

Hancock County, Mississippi covers 552.8 square miles: 474 square miles of land and 78.8 square miles of water.

Official Census measurements2026 Gazetteer · retrieved September 27, 2026
Land area474 mi²
Water area78.8 mi²
Total area552.8 mi²
National land rank#2173

County outline

Generalized outline of Hancock 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 Hancock County is located

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

Area breakdown

Land accounts for 85.7% of Hancock County’s measured area and water for 14.3%. Its combined area converts to 1,431.7 square kilometers or approximately 353,770 acres.

Green: land · blue: water

MeasurementSquare milesSquare kilometersAcres
Land473.9661,227.566303,338.2
Water78.799204.08850,431.4
Total552.7651,431.655353,769.6

How Hancock County compares

By original Census land area, Hancock County ranks #54 of 82 in Mississippi and #2173 of 3,222 nationally. National rankings include the 50 states, District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.

Its land area is 0.836 times the Mississippi county-equivalent median of 567 square miles. It accounts for 1% of the combined county land area in the state.

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

What stands out about Hancock County?

Hancock County has more land than 1,049 of the other 3,221 county equivalents in the dataset.

Land area compared with the typical county equivalent
Hancock County474 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 Hancock County at #1,998 nationally by total area, 175 places closer to the top than its land rank. The water assigned to this geography moves it ahead of some county equivalents with more land.

Its water share is 14.3%, compared with a national county-equivalent median of 1.2% — 13.1 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 Hancock County in the national ranking. They can be in different states and are not necessarily geographic neighbors.

Land rankCounty equivalentLand mi²Comparison
#2172Perry County, Missouri474.4Compare
#2173Hancock County, Mississippi474This county
#2174Amherst County, Virginia474Compare

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 30.391641, -89.482791. 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: 1,227,567,323 m²; AWATER: 204,089,424 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 many acres of land are in Hancock County?

The land measurement converts to approximately 303,338 acres. Including water, total area is approximately 353,770 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

Download the complete CSV or JSON dataset