Tunica County area

Tunica County, Mississippi covers 476.1 square miles: 454.1 square miles of land and 22 square miles of water. Its county seat is Tunica. An estimated 8,819 people lived there in 2025.

Official Census measurements · GEOID 281432026 Gazetteer · retrieved September 27, 2026
Land area454.1 mi²
Water area22 mi²
Population (2025)8,819
People per mi²19

County outline

Generalized outline of Tunica 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 Tunica County is located

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

Area breakdown

Land accounts for 95.4% of Tunica County’s measured area and water for 4.6%. Its combined area converts to 1,233.2 square kilometers or approximately 304,732 acres.

Green: land · blue: water

MeasurementSquare milesSquare kilometersAcres
Land454.131,176.191290,643.2
Water22.01357.01314,088.3
Total476.1431,233.205304,731.5

How Tunica County compares

By original Census land area, Tunica County ranks #60 of 82 in Mississippi and #2254 of 3,222 nationally. National rankings include the 50 states, District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.

Its land area is 0.801 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?

Population and density of Tunica County

The Census Bureau estimates that 8,819 people lived in Tunica County on July 1, 2025. That ranks #2,582 of 3,222 county equivalents nationally and #71 of 82 in Mississippi. Since the April 1, 2020 estimates base of 9,785, the population has declined by 966 (−9.9%), compared with −0.2% for Mississippi as a whole.

With 454.1 square miles of land, that is 19 people per square mile (7.5 per km²), placing Tunica County #2,344 nationally for density and #65 in Mississippi. The median county equivalent has 47 people per square mile; the Mississippi median is 43. Put another way, there are about 33 acres of land per resident.

Estimated population, 2020–2025 · line scaled to this county’s own range
July 1202020212022202320242025
Estimate9,7329,6469,4649,3729,1118,819
Change—−86−182−92−261−292

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 Tunica County

1 incorporated place lies at least partly in Tunica County. Together they are home to 819 people (9.3%); the other 8,000 (90.7%) live outside any incorporated place, in unincorporated communities and rural areas.

The largest is Tunica town, with 819 residents in the county.

Metropolitan area

Tunica County is an outlying 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; Tunica County accounts for 9.1% of the land and 0.7% 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.

County equivalentPopulation 2025Land mi²
Shelby CountyTennessee910,226752.8
DeSoto County197,918476.4
Tipton CountyTennessee62,287455.6
Crittenden CountyArkansas46,210611.8
Fayette CountyTennessee45,071704.1
Marshall County34,654706.2
Tate County28,725404.8
Tunica County8,819454.1
Benton County7,502406.6

ZIP codes

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

3862638664386653867038676

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 Tunica County

Tunica County shares a land border with 8 county equivalents, including 3 in Arkansas. It has more land than 2 of them. The largest neighbor is Phillips County (690.4 mi²) and the smallest is Tate County (404.8 mi²). Together with its neighbors, Tunica County forms a block of 4,880.6 mi² of land, of which it holds 9.3%.

Map of Tunica County and the 8 county equivalents that border it Lee County, Arkansas: 599.8 mi² landQuitman County, Mississippi: 405 mi² landDeSoto County, Mississippi: 476.4 mi² landTate County, Mississippi: 404.8 mi² landCoahoma County, Mississippi: 553.1 mi² landPhillips County, Arkansas: 690.4 mi² landCrittenden County, Arkansas: 611.8 mi² landPanola County, Mississippi: 685.2 mi² land
Tunica 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. TunicaCompare
Phillips CountyArkansas690.41.5× largerCompare
Panola County685.21.5× largerCompare
Crittenden CountyArkansas611.81.3× largerCompare
Lee CountyArkansas599.81.3× largerCompare
Coahoma County553.11.2× largerCompare
DeSoto County476.4about the sameCompare
Quitman County4051.1× smallerCompare
Tate County404.81.1× smallerCompare

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

Tunica County has less land than any of the 50 states. Rhode Island, the smallest state by land area, has 1,033.9 mi², about 2.3 times as much. Mississippi’s county land could hold about 103 areas the size of Tunica County.

Land area: Tunica County and the closest-sized states
Tunica County454.1 mi²
Rhode Island1,033.9 mi²

Another way to picture it: the same land area would fill a square about 21.3 miles (34.3 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 Tunica County?

Tunica County has more land than 968 of the other 3,221 county equivalents in the dataset.

Land area compared with the typical county equivalent
Tunica County454.1 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 Tunica County at #2,258 nationally by total area, 4 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 4.6%, compared with a national county-equivalent median of 1.2% — 3.5 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 Tunica County in the national ranking. They can be in different states and are not necessarily geographic neighbors.

Land rankCounty equivalentLand mi²Comparison
#2253Grady County, Georgia454.5Compare
#2254Tunica County, Mississippi454.1This county
#2255Mercer County, Missouri453.8Compare

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 34.652201, -90.371770. 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: 1,176,191,635 m²; AWATER: 57,012,296 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 Tunica County?

Tunica County, Mississippi has 454.1 square miles (1,176.2 km²) of land and 22 square miles of water, for a total area of 476.1 square miles. It ranks #2254 of 3,222 U.S. county equivalents by land area.

Is Tunica County the largest county in Mississippi?

No. Tunica County ranks #60 of 82 in Mississippi by land area. The largest is Yazoo County, with 922.3 square miles of land.

What counties border Tunica County?

Tunica County shares a land border with Lee County, Arkansas, Quitman County, DeSoto County, Tate County, Coahoma County, Phillips County, Arkansas, Crittenden County, Arkansas, and Panola County.

What is the population of Tunica County?

The Census Bureau estimates Tunica County had 8,819 residents on July 1, 2025, ranking #2,582 of 3,222 county equivalents. That is 19 people per square mile of land.

What is the county seat of Tunica County?

The county seat of Tunica County is Tunica.

Is Tunica County part of a metropolitan area?

Yes. It is an outlying county of the Memphis, TN-MS-AR Metropolitan Statistical Area, which has 9 county equivalents and 1,341,412 residents.

How many ZIP codes are in Tunica County?

5 ZIP Code Tabulation Areas have land in Tunica County, and 3 of them have most of their land inside the county. Census ZIP Code Tabulation Areas approximate USPS ZIP Code areas.

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

It has less land than every state. Rhode Island, the smallest, has 2.3 times as much land.

How many acres of land are in Tunica County?

The land measurement converts to approximately 290,643 acres. Including water, total area is approximately 304,732 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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