McHenry County area

Population and density of McHenry County

The Census Bureau estimates that 5,130 people lived in McHenry County on July 1, 2025. That ranks #2,887 of 3,222 county equivalents nationally and #23 of 53 in North Dakota. Since the April 1, 2020 estimates base of 5,356, the population has declined by 226 (−4.2%), compared with +2.6% for North Dakota as a whole.

With 1,873.9 square miles of land, that is 2.7 people per square mile (1.1 per km²), placing McHenry County #3,004 nationally for density and #33 in North Dakota. The median county equivalent has 47 people per square mile; the North Dakota median is 3.7. Put another way, there are about 234 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 McHenry County

12 incorporated places lie at least partly in McHenry County. Together they are home to 2,611 people (50.9%); the other 2,519 (49.1%) live outside any incorporated place, in unincorporated communities and rural areas.

The largest is Velva city, with 1,046 residents in the county. The county seat, Towner city, has 454 residents. By land, Drake city is the largest at 1.973 mi².

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

Metropolitan area

McHenry County is an outlying county of the Minot, ND Metropolitan Statistical Area. Its 3 county equivalents have 75,694 residents on 4,764.2 square miles of land; McHenry County accounts for 39.3% of the land and 6.8% of the residents. By combined land it ranks #56 of 393 metropolitan areas, and #387 by population.

ZIP codes

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

58368583845871058712587135872358731587365874058741587445874858762587685877858788587895879058792

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 McHenry County

McHenry County shares a land border with 6 county equivalents. It has more land than 4 of them. The largest neighbor is McLean County (2,110.3 mi²) and the smallest is Renville County (877.2 mi²). Together with its neighbors, McHenry County forms a block of 10,533.9 mi² of land, of which it holds 17.8%.

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

McHenry County has more land than 1 of the 50 states. It is about 1.8 times the land area of Rhode Island (1,033.9 mi²), while Delaware, the next larger state, has 1 times as much land (1,948.6 mi²). North Dakota’s county land could hold about 37 areas the size of McHenry County.

Another way to picture it: the same land area would fill a square about 43.3 miles (69.7 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 McHenry County?

McHenry County has more land than 2,918 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 McHenry County at #339 nationally by total area, 35 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%, compared with a national county-equivalent median of 1.2% — 0.8 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 McHenry 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.