Forsyth County area

Population and density of Forsyth County

The Census Bureau estimates that 401,718 people lived in Forsyth County on July 1, 2025. That ranks #192 of 3,222 county equivalents nationally and #4 of 100 in North Carolina. Since the April 1, 2020 estimates base of 382,612, the population has grown by 19,106 (+5%), compared with +7.2% for North Carolina as a whole.

With 408 square miles of land, that is 984 people per square mile (380 per km²), placing Forsyth County #191 nationally for density and #5 in North Carolina. The median county equivalent has 47 people per square mile; the North Carolina median is 116. Put another way, there are about 0.65 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 Forsyth County

10 incorporated places lie at least partly in Forsyth County. Together they are home to 336,987 people (83.9%); the other 64,731 (16.1%) live outside any incorporated place, in unincorporated communities and rural areas.

The largest is Winston-Salem city, with 257,271 residents in the county. Among places with at least 1,000 residents in 2020, Kernersville town grew fastest since then (+9.8%).

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

Metropolitan area

Forsyth County is a central county of the Winston-Salem, NC Metropolitan Statistical Area. Its 5 county equivalents have 712,206 residents on 2,009 square miles of land; Forsyth County accounts for 20.3% of the land and 56.4% of the residents. By combined land it ranks #156 of 393 metropolitan areas, and #86 by population. It belongs to the Greensboro--Winston-Salem--High Point, NC Combined Statistical Area.

ZIP codes

22 ZIP Code Tabulation Areas have land in Forsyth County; 16 of them have most of their land inside the county, and the others mainly cover neighboring areas.

27009270122701927021270232704027043270452705027051270522710127103271042710527106271072710927110271272726527284

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 Forsyth County

Forsyth County shares a land border with 6 county equivalents. It has more land than 2 of them. The largest neighbor is Guilford County (646 mi²) and the smallest is Davie County (263.7 mi²). Together with its neighbors, Forsyth County forms a block of 3,187.7 mi² of land, of which it holds 12.8%.

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

Forsyth County has less land than any of the 50 states. Rhode Island, the smallest state by land area, has 1,033.9 mi², about 2.5 times as much. North Carolina’s county land could hold about 119 areas the size of Forsyth County.

Another way to picture it: the same land area would fill a square about 20.2 miles (32.5 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 Forsyth County?

Forsyth County has more land than 742 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 Forsyth County at #2,526 nationally by total area, 46 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 1.1%, compared with a national county-equivalent median of 1.2%. The two percentages are within 0.1 percentage points of each other. 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 Forsyth 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.