Robeson County area

Population and density of Robeson County

The Census Bureau estimates that 119,941 people lived in Robeson County on July 1, 2025. That ranks #545 of 3,222 county equivalents nationally and #26 of 100 in North Carolina. Since the April 1, 2020 estimates base of 116,542, the population has grown by 3,399 (+2.9%), compared with +7.2% for North Carolina as a whole.

With 947.3 square miles of land, that is 127 people per square mile (49 per km²), placing Robeson County #846 nationally for density and #47 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 5.1 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 Robeson County

15 incorporated places lie at least partly in Robeson County. Together they are home to 33,594 people (28%); the other 86,347 (72%) live outside any incorporated place, in unincorporated communities and rural areas.

The largest is Lumberton city, with 18,955 residents in the county. Among places with at least 1,000 residents in 2020, Red Springs town grew fastest since then (+4%).

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

Metropolitan area

Robeson County is a central county of the Lumberton, NC Micropolitan Statistical Area. Robeson County is the area’s only county equivalent, so the micro area has the same 947.3 square miles of land. By combined land it ranks #195 of 542 micropolitan areas, and #18 by population. It belongs to the Fayetteville-Lumberton-Pinehurst, NC Combined Statistical Area.

ZIP codes

16 ZIP Code Tabulation Areas have land in Robeson County; 15 of them have most of their land inside the county, and the others mainly cover neighboring areas.

28340283572835828359283602836228364283692837128372283752837728378283832838428386

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 Robeson County

Robeson County shares a land border with 7 county equivalents, including 2 in South Carolina. It has more land than every one of them. The largest neighbor is Columbus County (938.1 mi²) and the smallest is Scotland County (319.1 mi²). Together with its neighbors, Robeson County forms a block of 5,007.3 mi² of land, of which it holds 18.9%.

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

Robeson County has less land than any of the 50 states. Rhode Island, the smallest state by land area, has 1,033.9 mi², about 1.1 times as much. North Carolina’s county land could hold about 51 areas the size of Robeson County.

Another way to picture it: the same land area would fill a square about 30.8 miles (49.5 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 Robeson County?

Robeson County has more land than 2,476 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 Robeson County at #848 nationally by total area, 102 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 0.2%, compared with a national county-equivalent median of 1.2% — 1 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 Robeson 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.