McClain County area

Population and density of McClain County

The Census Bureau estimates that 49,647 people lived in McClain County on July 1, 2025. That ranks #1,032 of 3,222 county equivalents nationally and #18 of 77 in Oklahoma. Since the April 1, 2020 estimates base of 41,671, the population has grown by 7,976 (+19.1%), compared with +4.1% for Oklahoma as a whole.

With 570.7 square miles of land, that is 87 people per square mile (34 per km²), placing McClain County #1,095 nationally for density and #11 in Oklahoma. The median county equivalent has 47 people per square mile; the Oklahoma median is 28. Put another way, there are about 7.4 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 McClain County

11 incorporated places lie at least partly in McClain County. Together they are home to 36,884 people (74.3%); the other 12,763 (25.7%) live outside any incorporated place, in unincorporated communities and rural areas.

The largest is Newcastle city, with 15,198 residents in the county. The county seat, Purcell city, has 7,030 residents. Among places with at least 1,000 residents in 2020, Newcastle city grew fastest since then (+38.3%).

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

Metropolitan area

McClain County is an outlying county of the Oklahoma City, OK Metropolitan Statistical Area. Its 7 county equivalents have 1,512,813 residents on 5,511.8 square miles of land; McClain County accounts for 10.4% of the land and 3.3% of the residents. By combined land it ranks #43 of 393 metropolitan areas, and #43 by population. It belongs to the Oklahoma City-Shawnee, OK Combined Statistical Area.

ZIP codes

13 ZIP Code Tabulation Areas have land in McClain County; 6 of them have most of their land inside the county, and the others mainly cover neighboring areas.

73002730107303173052730577306573072730747308073093730957483174872

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 McClain County

McClain County shares a land border with 5 county equivalents. It has more land than 1 of them. The largest neighbor is Grady County (1,100.5 mi²) and the smallest is Cleveland County (538.9 mi²). Together with its neighbors, McClain County forms a block of 4,520.5 mi² of land, of which it holds 12.6%.

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

McClain County has less land than any of the 50 states. Rhode Island, the smallest state by land area, has 1,033.9 mi², about 1.8 times as much. Oklahoma’s county land could hold about 120 areas the size of McClain County.

Another way to picture it: the same land area would fill a square about 23.9 miles (38.4 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 McClain County?

McClain County has more land than 1,455 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 McClain County at #1,829 nationally by total area, 62 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 1.6%, compared with a national county-equivalent median of 1.2% — 0.5 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 McClain 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.