Unicoi County area

Population and density of Unicoi County

The Census Bureau estimates that 17,856 people lived in Unicoi County on July 1, 2025. That ranks #2,008 of 3,222 county equivalents nationally and #74 of 95 in Tennessee. Since the April 1, 2020 estimates base of 17,911, the population has declined by 55 (−0.3%), compared with +5.8% for Tennessee as a whole.

With 186.1 square miles of land, that is 96 people per square mile (37 per km²), placing Unicoi County #1,021 nationally for density and #38 in Tennessee. The median county equivalent has 47 people per square mile; the Tennessee median is 76. Put another way, there are about 6.7 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 Unicoi County

2 incorporated places lie at least partly in Unicoi County. Together they are home to 9,880 people (55.3%); the other 7,976 (44.7%) live outside any incorporated place, in unincorporated communities and rural areas.

The largest is Erwin town, with 6,019 residents in the county. By land, Unicoi town is the largest at 16.2 mi². Among places with at least 1,000 residents in 2020, Unicoi town grew fastest since then (+1.3%).

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

Metropolitan area

Unicoi County is an outlying county of the Johnson City, TN Metropolitan Statistical Area. Its 3 county equivalents have 216,416 residents on 853.9 square miles of land; Unicoi County accounts for 21.8% of the land and 8.3% of the residents. By combined land it ranks #300 of 393 metropolitan areas, and #225 by population. It belongs to the Johnson City-Kingsport-Bristol, TN-VA Combined Statistical Area.

ZIP codes

6 ZIP Code Tabulation Areas have land in Unicoi County; 3 of them have most of their land inside the county, and the others mainly cover neighboring areas.

376013764337650376573765837692

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 Unicoi County

Unicoi County shares a land border with 6 county equivalents, including 3 in North Carolina. Each of them has more land than Unicoi County. The largest neighbor is Greene County (622.2 mi²) and the smallest is Mitchell County (221.3 mi²). Together with its neighbors, Unicoi County forms a block of 2,459.5 mi² of land, of which it holds 7.6%.

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

Unicoi County has less land than any of the 50 states. Rhode Island, the smallest state by land area, has 1,033.9 mi², about 5.6 times as much. Tennessee’s county land could hold about 222 areas the size of Unicoi County.

Another way to picture it: the same land area would fill a square about 13.6 miles (22 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 Unicoi County?

Unicoi County has more land than 201 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 Unicoi County at #3,045 nationally by total area, 24 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 0.2%, compared with a national county-equivalent median of 1.2% — 1 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 Unicoi 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.