McKean County area

Population and density of McKean County

The Census Bureau estimates that 38,984 people lived in McKean County on July 1, 2025. That ranks #1,234 of 3,222 county equivalents nationally and #53 of 67 in Pennsylvania. Since the April 1, 2020 estimates base of 40,434, the population has declined by 1,450 (−3.6%), compared with +0.4% for Pennsylvania as a whole.

With 979.7 square miles of land, that is 40 people per square mile (15 per km²), placing McKean County #1,758 nationally for density and #60 in Pennsylvania. The median county equivalent has 47 people per square mile; the Pennsylvania median is 137. Put another way, there are about 16 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 McKean County

McKean County is divided into 22 municipalities and townships. In Pennsylvania, county subdivisions are local governments, and together they cover all of the county’s land and residents.

The most populous is Bradford city, with 7,442 residents (19.1% of the county). The largest by land is Keating township, at 98.2 mi², or 10% of the county’s land. The county seat, Smethport borough, has 1,359 residents. Among those with at least 1,000 residents in 2020, Lafayette township grew fastest since then (+17.1%).

Population: U.S. Census Bureau Vintage 2025 subcounty estimates, counting only the part of each subdivision inside McKean County. Land: 2026 Census Gazetteer. How communities are listed.

Metropolitan area

McKean County is a central county of the Bradford, PA Micropolitan Statistical Area. McKean County is the area’s only county equivalent, so the micro area has the same 979.7 square miles of land. By combined land it ranks #187 of 542 micropolitan areas, and #334 by population.

ZIP codes

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

15870163331670116720167241672516726167271672916730167311673216733167351673816740167431674416745167481674916750

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 McKean County

McKean County shares a land border with 6 county equivalents, including 2 in New York. It has more land than 3 of them. The largest neighbor is Cattaraugus County (1,308.2 mi²) and the smallest is Cameron County (396.1 mi²). Together with its neighbors, McKean County forms a block of 6,506 mi² of land, of which it holds 15.1%.

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

McKean County has less land than any of the 50 states. Rhode Island, the smallest state by land area, has 1,033.9 mi², about 1.1 times as much. Pennsylvania’s county land could hold about 46 areas the size of McKean County.

Another way to picture it: the same land area would fill a square about 31.3 miles (50.4 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 McKean County?

McKean County has more land than 2,516 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 McKean County at #793 nationally by total area, 87 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 McKean 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.