Northampton County area

Population and density of Northampton County

The Census Bureau estimates that 16,491 people lived in Northampton County on July 1, 2025. That ranks #2,071 of 3,222 county equivalents nationally and #86 of 100 in North Carolina. Since the April 1, 2020 estimates base of 17,470, the population has declined by 979 (−5.6%), compared with +7.2% for North Carolina as a whole.

With 536.7 square miles of land, that is 31 people per square mile (12 per km²), placing Northampton County #1,984 nationally for density and #92 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 21 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 Northampton County

9 incorporated places lie at least partly in Northampton County. Together they are home to 5,030 people (30.5%); the other 11,461 (69.5%) live outside any incorporated place, in unincorporated communities and rural areas.

The largest is Gaston town, with 959 residents in the county. The county seat, Jackson town, has 410 residents. By land, Rich Square town is the largest at 3.086 mi².

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

Metropolitan area

Northampton County is an outlying county of the Roanoke Rapids, NC Micropolitan Statistical Area. Its 2 county equivalents have 63,025 residents on 1,260.5 square miles of land; Northampton County accounts for 42.6% of the land and 26.2% of the residents. By combined land it ranks #132 of 542 micropolitan areas, and #151 by population. It belongs to the Rocky Mount-Wilson-Roanoke Rapids, NC Combined Statistical Area.

ZIP codes

13 ZIP Code Tabulation Areas have land in Northampton County; 12 of them have most of their land inside the county, and the others mainly cover neighboring areas.

27820278312783227842278452785327855278622786627869278762787727897

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 Northampton County

Northampton County shares a land border with 7 county equivalents, including 3 in Virginia. It has more land than 3 of them. The largest neighbor is Halifax County (723.7 mi²) and the smallest is Greensville County (295.4 mi²). Together with its neighbors, Northampton County forms a block of 4,203.2 mi² of land, of which it holds 12.8%.

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

Northampton County has less land than any of the 50 states. Rhode Island, the smallest state by land area, has 1,033.9 mi², about 1.9 times as much. North Carolina’s county land could hold about 91 areas the size of Northampton County.

Another way to picture it: the same land area would fill a square about 23.2 miles (37.3 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 Northampton County?

Northampton County has more land than 1,274 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 Northampton County at #2,004 nationally by total area, 56 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 2.5%, compared with a national county-equivalent median of 1.2% — 1.3 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 Northampton 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.