Sabine County area

Sabine County, Texas covers 576.6 square miles: 491.7 square miles of land and 84.9 square miles of water. Its county seat is Hemphill. An estimated 10,012 people lived there in 2025.

Official Census measurements · GEOID 484032026 Gazetteer · retrieved September 27, 2026
Land area491.7 mi²
Water area84.9 mi²
Population (2025)10,012
People per mi²20

County outline

Generalized outline of Sabine County, Texas
2025 Census cartographic boundary, fitted to this frame. County maps are not at a common scale. The 2026 area measurements below come from the separate Gazetteer release. Map source and limitations.

Where Sabine County is located

Sabine County highlighted on a map of all U.S. county equivalents. About the maps

Area breakdown

Land accounts for 85.3% of Sabine County’s measured area and water for 14.7%. Its combined area converts to 1,493.5 square kilometers or approximately 369,042 acres.

Green: land · blue: water

MeasurementSquare milesSquare kilometersAcres
Land491.711,273.523314,694.4
Water84.918219.93754,347.5
Total576.6281,493.46369,041.9

How Sabine County compares

By original Census land area, Sabine County ranks #239 of 254 in Texas and #2115 of 3,222 nationally. National rankings include the 50 states, District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.

Its land area is 0.541 times the Texas county-equivalent median of 908.7 square miles. It accounts for 0.2% of the combined county land area in the state.

See the complete Texas ranking · What counts as a county equivalent?

Population and density of Sabine County

The Census Bureau estimates that 10,012 people lived in Sabine County on July 1, 2025. That ranks #2,480 of 3,222 county equivalents nationally and #163 of 254 in Texas. Since the April 1, 2020 estimates base of 9,900, the population has grown by 112 (+1.1%), compared with +8.8% for Texas as a whole.

With 491.7 square miles of land, that is 20 people per square mile (7.9 per km²), placing Sabine County #2,313 nationally for density and #134 in Texas. The median county equivalent has 47 people per square mile; the Texas median is 22. Put another way, there are about 31 acres of land per resident.

Estimated population, 2020–2025 · line scaled to this county’s own range
July 1202020212022202320242025
Estimate9,89610,02210,03910,13310,08410,012
Change—+126+17+94−49−72

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 Sabine County

2 incorporated places lie at least partly in Sabine County. Together they are home to 1,927 people (19.2%); the other 8,085 (80.8%) live outside any incorporated place, in unincorporated communities and rural areas.

The largest is Hemphill city, with 1,027 residents in the county.

Incorporated placePopulation 2025Since 2020Land mi²
Hemphill cityCounty seat1,027−0.5%2.539
Pineland city900−0.1%2.046

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

Metropolitan area

Sabine County is not part of any metropolitan or micropolitan statistical area in the Office of Management and Budget’s July 2023 delineation; 1,306 other county equivalents are also outside one. These areas are built around an urban core of at least 10,000 people plus the counties tied to it by commuting, so counties outside them are generally rural.

ZIP codes

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

759307593175948759597596875972

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 Sabine County

Sabine County shares a land border with 5 county equivalents, including 1 in Louisiana. Each of them has more land than Sabine County. The largest neighbor is Jasper County (938.7 mi²) and the smallest is San Augustine County (530.7 mi²). Together with its neighbors, Sabine County forms a block of 4,556.9 mi² of land, of which it holds 10.8%.

Map of Sabine County and the 5 county equivalents that border it Sabine Parish, Louisiana: 866.6 mi² landSan Augustine County, Texas: 530.7 mi² landNewton County, Texas: 933.7 mi² landShelby County, Texas: 795.6 mi² landJasper County, Texas: 938.7 mi² land
Sabine County (dark) and its bordering county equivalents. Select a neighbor to open its profile. Drawn from the 2025 Census cartographic boundaries in an equal-area projection. How borders are determined.
Bordering county equivalentLand mi²Size vs. SabineCompare
Jasper County938.71.9× largerCompare
Newton County933.71.9× largerCompare
Sabine ParishLouisiana866.61.8× largerCompare
Shelby County795.61.6× largerCompare
San Augustine County530.71.1× largerCompare

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

Sabine County has less land than any of the 50 states. Rhode Island, the smallest state by land area, has 1,033.9 mi², about 2.1 times as much. Texas’s county land could hold about 531 areas the size of Sabine County.

Land area: Sabine County and the closest-sized states
Sabine County491.7 mi²
Rhode Island1,033.9 mi²

Another way to picture it: the same land area would fill a square about 22.2 miles (35.7 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 Sabine County?

Sabine County has more land than 1,107 of the other 3,221 county equivalents in the dataset.

Land area compared with the typical county equivalent
Sabine County491.7 mi²
Texas median908.7 mi²
National median604.5 mi²

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 Sabine County at #1,856 nationally by total area, 259 places closer to the top than its land rank. The water assigned to this geography moves it ahead of some county equivalents with more land.

Its water share is 14.7%, compared with a national county-equivalent median of 1.2% — 13.6 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 Sabine County in the national ranking. They can be in different states and are not necessarily geographic neighbors.

Land rankCounty equivalentLand mi²Comparison
#2114Franklin County, North Carolina491.9Compare
#2115Sabine County, Texas491.7This county
#2116Burt County, Nebraska491.6Compare

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.

Representative coordinates

The Census internal point is 31.343300, -93.851913. It represents a location inside the geography; it is not necessarily the centroid or the address of a courthouse.

Source and precision

U.S. Census Bureau, 2026 Gazetteer Files, Counties. Original ALAND: 1,273,523,388 m²; AWATER: 219,936,059 m². Rankings use ALAND; exact ties use ascending GEOID. Tables preserve Census-published square miles to three decimals, with conversions based on those values.

Download the official county source ZIP ↗ · Methodology

Common questions

How big is Sabine County?

Sabine County, Texas has 491.7 square miles (1,273.5 km²) of land and 84.9 square miles of water, for a total area of 576.6 square miles. It ranks #2115 of 3,222 U.S. county equivalents by land area.

Is Sabine County the largest county in Texas?

No. Sabine County ranks #239 of 254 in Texas by land area. The largest is Brewster County, with 6,183.8 square miles of land.

What counties border Sabine County?

Sabine County shares a land border with Sabine Parish, Louisiana, San Augustine County, Newton County, Shelby County, and Jasper County.

What is the population of Sabine County?

The Census Bureau estimates Sabine County had 10,012 residents on July 1, 2025, ranking #2,480 of 3,222 county equivalents. That is 20 people per square mile of land.

What is the county seat of Sabine County?

The county seat of Sabine County is Hemphill.

What cities and towns are in Sabine County?

Sabine County has 2 incorporated places. The most populous are Hemphill city and Pineland city; 8,085 residents live outside any incorporated place.

Is Sabine County part of a metropolitan area?

No. Sabine County is outside every metropolitan and micropolitan statistical area in the July 2023 OMB delineation.

How many ZIP codes are in Sabine County?

6 ZIP Code Tabulation Areas have land in Sabine County, and 3 of them have most of their land inside the county. Census ZIP Code Tabulation Areas approximate USPS ZIP Code areas.

How does Sabine County compare with U.S. states?

It has less land than every state. Rhode Island, the smallest, has 2.1 times as much land.

How many acres of land are in Sabine County?

The land measurement converts to approximately 314,694 acres. Including water, total area is approximately 369,042 acres. One square mile equals 640 acres.

Why might another source show a different area?

Check whether it reports land or total area, its Census vintage, and its rounding. Our guide explains how to reconcile county area figures.

Can this establish a property boundary?

No. Statistical measurements and generalized maps do not establish property lines. Consult the relevant local surveying or land-records authority.

Cite this county

Download the complete CSV or JSON dataset