Hood River County area

Population and density of Hood River County

The Census Bureau estimates that 23,720 people lived in Hood River County on July 1, 2025. That ranks #1,712 of 3,222 county equivalents nationally and #26 of 36 in Oregon. Since the April 1, 2020 estimates base of 23,978, the population has declined by 258 (−1.1%), compared with +0.9% for Oregon as a whole.

With 522.2 square miles of land, that is 45 people per square mile (18 per km²), placing Hood River County #1,643 nationally for density and #16 in Oregon. The median county equivalent has 47 people per square mile; the Oregon median is 25. Put another way, there are about 14 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 Hood River County

2 incorporated places lie at least partly in Hood River County. Together they are home to 9,682 people (40.8%); the other 14,038 (59.2%) live outside any incorporated place, in unincorporated communities and rural areas.

The largest is Hood River city, with 8,315 residents in the county.

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

Metropolitan area

Hood River County is a central county of the Hood River, OR Micropolitan Statistical Area. Hood River County is the area’s only county equivalent, so the micro area has the same 522.2 square miles of land. By combined land it ranks #420 of 542 micropolitan areas, and #487 by population.

ZIP codes

3 ZIP Code Tabulation Areas have land in Hood River County, and each lies mostly inside the county.

970149703197041

ZIP Code Tabulation Areas are the Census Bureau’s approximations of USPS ZIP Code service areas, from the 2020 Census relationship files. Post-office-box and single-address ZIP Codes have no tabulation area.

Counties bordering Hood River County

Hood River County shares a land border with 5 county equivalents, including 2 in Washington. It has more land than 1 of them. The largest neighbor is Wasco County (2,381.1 mi²) and the smallest is Multnomah County (431 mi²). Together with its neighbors, Hood River County forms a block of 8,734.9 mi² of land, of which it holds 6%.

How big is Hood River County compared with U.S. states?

Hood River 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 times as much. Oregon’s county land could hold about 184 areas the size of Hood River County.

Another way to picture it: the same land area would fill a square about 22.9 miles (36.8 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 Hood River County?

Hood River County has more land than 1,222 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 Hood River County at #2,065 nationally by total area, 65 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 2.1%, compared with a national county-equivalent median of 1.2% — 0.9 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 Hood River 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.