York County area

Population and density of York County

The Census Bureau estimates that 306,887 people lived in York County on July 1, 2025. That ranks #242 of 3,222 county equivalents nationally and #7 of 46 in South Carolina. Since the April 1, 2020 estimates base of 281,907, the population has grown by 24,980 (+8.9%), compared with +8.8% for South Carolina as a whole.

With 680.6 square miles of land, that is 451 people per square mile (174 per km²), placing York County #375 nationally for density and #6 in South Carolina. The median county equivalent has 47 people per square mile; the South Carolina median is 78. Put another way, there are about 1.4 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 York County

9 incorporated places lie at least partly in York County. Together they are home to 148,622 people (48.4%); the other 158,265 (51.6%) live outside any incorporated place, in unincorporated communities and rural areas.

The largest is Rock Hill city, with 75,911 residents in the county. The county seat, York city, has 10,620 residents. Among places with at least 1,000 residents in 2020, Fort Mill town grew fastest since then (+57.7%).

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

Metropolitan area

York County is an outlying county of the Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC Metropolitan Statistical Area. Its 11 county equivalents have 2,938,830 residents on 5,597.4 square miles of land; York County accounts for 12.2% of the land and 10.4% of the residents. By combined land it ranks #39 of 393 metropolitan areas, and #21 by population. It belongs to the Charlotte-Concord, NC-SC Combined Statistical Area.

ZIP codes

15 ZIP Code Tabulation Areas have land in York County; 12 of them have most of their land inside the county, and the others mainly cover neighboring areas.

297022970429706297082971029712297152971729726297302973229733297422974329745

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 York County

York County shares a land border with 7 county equivalents, including 3 in North Carolina. It has more land than every one of them. The largest neighbor is Chester County (580.9 mi²) and the smallest is Gaston County (355.8 mi²). Together with its neighbors, York County forms a block of 4,060.9 mi² of land, of which it holds 16.8%.

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

York County has less land than any of the 50 states. Rhode Island, the smallest state by land area, has 1,033.9 mi², about 1.5 times as much. South Carolina’s county land could hold about 44 areas the size of York County.

Another way to picture it: the same land area would fill a square about 26.1 miles (42 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 York County?

York County has more land than 1,843 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 York County at #1,451 nationally by total area, 72 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 2.2%, compared with a national county-equivalent median of 1.2% — 1 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 York 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.