Athens County area

Population and density of Athens County

The Census Bureau estimates that 63,197 people lived in Athens County on July 1, 2025. That ranks #875 of 3,222 county equivalents nationally and #41 of 88 in Ohio. Since the April 1, 2020 estimates base of 62,428, the population has grown by 769 (+1.2%), compared with +0.9% for Ohio as a whole.

With 504.1 square miles of land, that is 125 people per square mile (48 per km²), placing Athens County #851 nationally for density and #40 in Ohio. The median county equivalent has 47 people per square mile; the Ohio median is 120. 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 Athens County

10 incorporated places lie at least partly in Athens County. Together they are home to 35,159 people (55.6%); the other 28,038 (44.4%) live outside any incorporated place, in unincorporated communities and rural areas.

The largest is Athens city, with 25,313 residents in the county. Among places with at least 1,000 residents in 2020, Athens city grew fastest since then (+6.3%).

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

Metropolitan area

Athens County is a central county of the Athens, OH Micropolitan Statistical Area. Athens County is the area’s only county equivalent, so the micro area has the same 504.1 square miles of land. By combined land it ranks #433 of 542 micropolitan areas, and #149 by population. It belongs to the Columbus-Marion-Zanesville, OH Combined Statistical Area.

ZIP codes

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

43728457014571045711457164571945723457324573545739457404574245761457644576645776457784578045782

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 Athens County

Athens County shares a land border with 7 county equivalents, including 1 in West Virginia. It has more land than 6 of them. The largest neighbor is Washington County (632.3 mi²) and the smallest is Wood County (366.5 mi²). Together with its neighbors, Athens County forms a block of 3,590.5 mi² of land, of which it holds 14%.

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

Athens County has less land than any of the 50 states. Rhode Island, the smallest state by land area, has 1,033.9 mi², about 2.1 times as much. Ohio’s county land could hold about 81 areas the size of Athens County.

Another way to picture it: the same land area would fill a square about 22.5 miles (36.1 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 Athens County?

Athens County has more land than 1,161 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 Athens County at #2,142 nationally by total area, 81 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 0.9%, compared with a national county-equivalent median of 1.2% — 0.2 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 Athens 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.