Pearl River County area

Population and density of Pearl River County

The Census Bureau estimates that 59,363 people lived in Pearl River County on July 1, 2025. That ranks #912 of 3,222 county equivalents nationally and #13 of 82 in Mississippi. Since the April 1, 2020 estimates base of 56,148, the population has grown by 3,215 (+5.7%), compared with −0.2% for Mississippi as a whole.

With 811.5 square miles of land, that is 73 people per square mile (28 per km²), placing Pearl River County #1,227 nationally for density and #18 in Mississippi. The median county equivalent has 47 people per square mile; the Mississippi median is 43. Put another way, there are about 8.7 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 Pearl River County

3 incorporated places lie at least partly in Pearl River County. Together they are home to 14,947 people (25.2%); the other 44,416 (74.8%) live outside any incorporated place, in unincorporated communities and rural areas.

The largest is Picayune city, with 12,019 residents in the county. The county seat, Poplarville city, has 2,918 residents. Among places with at least 1,000 residents in 2020, Poplarville city grew fastest since then (+3.5%).

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

Metropolitan area

Pearl River County is a central county of the Picayune, MS Micropolitan Statistical Area. Pearl River County is the area’s only county equivalent, so the micro area has the same 811.5 square miles of land. By combined land it ranks #259 of 542 micropolitan areas, and #169 by population. It belongs to the New Orleans-Metairie-Slidell, LA-MS Combined Statistical Area.

ZIP codes

5 ZIP Code Tabulation Areas have land in Pearl River County; 3 of them have most of their land inside the county, and the others mainly cover neighboring areas.

3942639455394663947039573

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 Pearl River County

Pearl River County shares a land border with 7 county equivalents, including 2 in Louisiana. It has more land than 6 of them. The largest neighbor is St. Tammany Parish (845.3 mi²) and the smallest is Stone County (445.5 mi²). Together with its neighbors, Pearl River County forms a block of 4,750.9 mi² of land, of which it holds 17.1%.

How big is Pearl River County compared with U.S. states?

Pearl River County has less land than any of the 50 states. Rhode Island, the smallest state by land area, has 1,033.9 mi², about 1.3 times as much. Mississippi’s county land could hold about 58 areas the size of Pearl River County.

Another way to picture it: the same land area would fill a square about 28.5 miles (45.8 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 Pearl River County?

Pearl River County has more land than 2,179 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 Pearl River County at #1,136 nationally by total area, 93 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 1%, compared with a national county-equivalent median of 1.2% — 0.2 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 Pearl River 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.