Wilson County area

Population and density of Wilson County

The Census Bureau estimates that 175,033 people lived in Wilson County on July 1, 2025. That ranks #403 of 3,222 county equivalents nationally and #9 of 95 in Tennessee. Since the April 1, 2020 estimates base of 147,745, the population has grown by 27,288 (+18.5%), compared with +5.8% for Tennessee as a whole.

With 571.1 square miles of land, that is 306 people per square mile (118 per km²), placing Wilson County #502 nationally for density and #13 in Tennessee. The median county equivalent has 47 people per square mile; the Tennessee median is 76. Put another way, there are about 2.1 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 Wilson County

3 incorporated places lie at least partly in Wilson County. Together they are home to 100,275 people (57.3%); the other 74,758 (42.7%) live outside any incorporated place, in unincorporated communities and rural areas.

The largest is Lebanon city, with 53,412 residents in the county. Among places with at least 1,000 residents in 2020, Lebanon city grew fastest since then (+38.8%).

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

Metropolitan area

Wilson County is a central county of the Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin, TN Metropolitan Statistical Area. Its 14 county equivalents have 2,197,416 residents on 6,302.2 square miles of land; Wilson County accounts for 9.1% of the land and 8% of the residents. By combined land it ranks #31 of 393 metropolitan areas, and #34 by population. It belongs to the Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro, TN Combined Statistical Area.

ZIP codes

12 ZIP Code Tabulation Areas have land in Wilson County; 5 of them have most of their land inside the county, and the others mainly cover neighboring areas.

370123701637076370853708737090370953711837122371293713837184

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 Wilson County

Wilson County shares a land border with 7 county equivalents. It has more land than 6 of them. The largest neighbor is Rutherford County (619.5 mi²) and the smallest is Trousdale County (114.3 mi²). Together with its neighbors, Wilson County forms a block of 3,222.3 mi² of land, of which it holds 17.7%.

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

Wilson 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. Tennessee’s county land could hold about 72 areas the size of Wilson County.

Another way to picture it: the same land area would fill a square about 23.9 miles (38.5 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 Wilson County?

Wilson County has more land than 1,461 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 Wilson County at #1,812 nationally by total area, 51 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% — 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 Wilson 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.