Harris County area

Population and density of Harris County

The Census Bureau estimates that 5,045,026 people lived in Harris County on July 1, 2025. That ranks #3 of 3,222 county equivalents nationally and #1 of 254 in Texas. Since the April 1, 2020 estimates base of 4,730,408, the population has grown by 314,618 (+6.7%), compared with +8.8% for Texas as a whole.

With 1,707.3 square miles of land, that is 2,955 people per square mile (1,141 per km²), placing Harris County #44 nationally for density and #2 in Texas. The median county equivalent has 47 people per square mile; the Texas median is 22. Put another way, there are about 0.217 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 Harris County

34 incorporated places lie at least partly in Harris County. Together they are home to 2,863,972 people (56.8%); the other 2,181,054 (43.2%) live outside any incorporated place, in unincorporated communities and rural areas.

The largest is Houston city, with 2,347,346 residents in the county (the city extends into 3 other counties). Among places with at least 1,000 residents in 2020, Tomball city grew fastest since then (+28.1%).

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

Metropolitan area

Harris County is a central county of the Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX Metropolitan Statistical Area. Its 10 county equivalents have 7,904,627 residents on 8,839.2 square miles of land; Harris County accounts for 19.3% of the land and 63.8% of the residents. By combined land it ranks #9 of 393 metropolitan areas, and #5 by population. It belongs to the Houston-Pasadena, TX Combined Statistical Area.

ZIP codes

143 ZIP Code Tabulation Areas have land in Harris County; 132 of them have most of their land inside the county, and the others mainly cover neighboring areas.

7700277003770047700577006770077700877009770107701177012770137701477015770167701777018770197702077021770227702377024770257702677027770287702977030770317703277033770347703577036770377703877039770407704177042770437704477045770467704777048770497705077051770537705477055770567705777058770597706077061770627706377064770657706677067770687706977070770717707277073770747707577076770777707877079770807708177082770837708477085770867708777088770897709077091770927709377094770957709677098770997720477336773387733977345773467735777365773737737577377773797738877389773967740177429774337744777449774507747777484774897749377494775027750377504775057750677507775207752177523775307753277535775367754677547775627757177581775867758777598

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 Harris County

Harris County shares a land border with 7 county equivalents. It has more land than every one of them. The largest neighbor is Brazoria County (1,363.3 mi²) and the smallest is Galveston County (379.4 mi²). Together with its neighbors, Harris County forms a block of 7,623.4 mi² of land, of which it holds 22.4%.

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

Harris County has more land than 1 of the 50 states. It is about 1.7 times the land area of Rhode Island (1,033.9 mi²), while Delaware, the next larger state, has 1.1 times as much land (1,948.6 mi²). Texas’s county land could hold about 153 areas the size of Harris County.

Another way to picture it: the same land area would fill a square about 41.3 miles (66.5 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 Harris County?

Harris County has more land than 2,870 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 Harris County at #379 nationally by total area, 27 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 3.9%, compared with a national county-equivalent median of 1.2% — 2.8 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 Harris 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.