Transylvania County area

Population and density of Transylvania County

The Census Bureau estimates that 34,211 people lived in Transylvania County on July 1, 2025. That ranks #1,368 of 3,222 county equivalents nationally and #68 of 100 in North Carolina. Since the April 1, 2020 estimates base of 32,988, the population has grown by 1,223 (+3.7%), compared with +7.2% for North Carolina as a whole.

With 378.4 square miles of land, that is 90 people per square mile (35 per km²), placing Transylvania County #1,068 nationally for density and #61 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 7.1 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 Transylvania County

2 incorporated places lie at least partly in Transylvania County. Together they are home to 8,858 people (25.9%); the other 25,353 (74.1%) live outside any incorporated place, in unincorporated communities and rural areas.

The largest is Brevard city, with 8,098 residents in the county.

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

Metropolitan area

Transylvania County is a central county of the Brevard, NC Micropolitan Statistical Area. Transylvania County is the area’s only county equivalent, so the micro area has the same 378.4 square miles of land. By combined land it ranks #502 of 542 micropolitan areas, and #400 by population. It belongs to the Asheville-Waynesville-Brevard, NC Combined Statistical Area.

ZIP codes

10 ZIP Code Tabulation Areas have land in Transylvania County; 8 of them have most of their land inside the county, and the others mainly cover neighboring areas.

28708287122871828739287422874728766287682877228774

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 Transylvania County

Transylvania County shares a land border with 6 county equivalents, including 3 in South Carolina. It has more land than 1 of them. The largest neighbor is Greenville County (785.9 mi²) and the smallest is Henderson County (373 mi²). Together with its neighbors, Transylvania County forms a block of 3,705.5 mi² of land, of which it holds 10.2%.

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

Transylvania County has less land than any of the 50 states. Rhode Island, the smallest state by land area, has 1,033.9 mi², about 2.7 times as much. North Carolina’s county land could hold about 129 areas the size of Transylvania County.

Another way to picture it: the same land area would fill a square about 19.5 miles (31.3 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 Transylvania County?

Transylvania County has more land than 613 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 Transylvania County at #2,657 nationally by total area, 48 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 0.5%, compared with a national county-equivalent median of 1.2% — 0.7 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 Transylvania 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.