Winkler County area

Winkler County, Texas covers 841.3 square miles: 841.3 square miles of land and 0.008 square miles of water. Its county seat is Kermit. An estimated 7,540 people lived there in 2025.

Official Census measurements · GEOID 484952026 Gazetteer · retrieved September 27, 2026
Land area841.3 mi²
Water area0.008 mi²
Population (2025)7,540
People per mi²9

County outline

Generalized outline of Winkler 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 Winkler County is located

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

Area breakdown

Land accounts for 100% of Winkler County’s measured area and water for 0%. Its combined area converts to 2,178.9 square kilometers or approximately 538,417 acres.

Green: land · blue: water

MeasurementSquare milesSquare kilometersAcres
Land841.2692,178.877538,412.2
Water0.0080.0215.1
Total841.2772,178.897538,417.3

How Winkler County compares

By original Census land area, Winkler County ranks #187 of 254 in Texas and #991 of 3,222 nationally. National rankings include the 50 states, District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.

Its land area is 0.926 times the Texas county-equivalent median of 908.7 square miles. It accounts for 0.3% of the combined county land area in the state.

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

Population and density of Winkler County

The Census Bureau estimates that 7,540 people lived in Winkler County on July 1, 2025. That ranks #2,683 of 3,222 county equivalents nationally and #179 of 254 in Texas. Since the April 1, 2020 estimates base of 7,793, the population has declined by 253 (−3.2%), compared with +8.8% for Texas as a whole.

With 841.3 square miles of land, that is 9 people per square mile (3.5 per km²), placing Winkler County #2,681 nationally for density and #175 in Texas. The median county equivalent has 47 people per square mile; the Texas median is 22. Put another way, there are about 71 acres of land per resident.

Estimated population, 2020–2025 · line scaled to this county’s own range
July 1202020212022202320242025
Estimate7,7577,3917,3917,6257,5637,540
Change—−3660+234−62−23

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 Winkler County

3 incorporated places lie at least partly in Winkler County. Together they are home to 6,950 people (92.2%); the other 590 (7.8%) live outside any incorporated place, in unincorporated communities and rural areas.

The largest is Kermit city, with 6,019 residents in the county. By land, Monahans city is the largest at 28.9 mi² across all its counties.

Incorporated placePopulation 2025Since 2020Land mi²
Kermit cityCounty seat6,019−3.9%2.531
Wink city931+0.9%1.167
Monahans cityAlso in 1 other county0—28.9

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

Metropolitan area

Winkler 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

2 ZIP Code Tabulation Areas have land in Winkler County, and each lies mostly inside the county.

7974579789

ZIP Code Tabulation Areas are the Census Bureau’s approximations of USPS ZIP Code service areas, from the 2020 Census relationship files. Post-office-box and single-address ZIP Codes have no tabulation area.

Counties bordering Winkler County

Winkler County shares a land border with 5 county equivalents, including 1 in New Mexico. It has more land than 2 of them. The largest neighbor is Lea County (4,391.6 mi²) and the smallest is Loving County (668.8 mi²). Together with its neighbors, Winkler County forms a block of 9,135.8 mi² of land, of which it holds 9.2%.

Map of Winkler County and the 5 county equivalents that border it Ward County, Texas: 835.6 mi² landEctor County, Texas: 897.9 mi² landLoving County, Texas: 668.8 mi² landLea County, New Mexico: 4,391.6 mi² landAndrews County, Texas: 1,500.7 mi² land
Winkler 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. WinklerCompare
Lea CountyNew Mexico4,391.65.2× largerCompare
Andrews County1,500.71.8× largerCompare
Ector County897.91.1× largerCompare
Ward County835.6about the sameCompare
Loving County668.81.3× smallerCompare

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

Winkler County has less land than any of the 50 states. Rhode Island, the smallest state by land area, has 1,033.9 mi², about 1.2 times as much. Texas’s county land could hold about 311 areas the size of Winkler County.

Land area: Winkler County and the closest-sized states
Winkler County841.3 mi²
Rhode Island1,033.9 mi²

Another way to picture it: the same land area would fill a square about 29 miles (46.7 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 Winkler County?

Winkler County has more land than 2,231 of the other 3,221 county equivalents in the dataset.

Land area compared with the typical county equivalent
Winkler County841.3 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 Winkler County at #1,100 nationally by total area, 109 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%, compared with a national county-equivalent median of 1.2% — 1.2 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 Winkler County in the national ranking. They can be in different states and are not necessarily geographic neighbors.

Land rankCounty equivalentLand mi²Comparison
#990Collin County, Texas841.6Compare
#991Winkler County, Texas841.3This county
#992Pottawatomie County, Kansas840.7Compare

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 31.827936, -102.971934. 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: 2,178,876,267 m²; AWATER: 19,838 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 Winkler County?

Winkler County, Texas has 841.3 square miles (2,178.9 km²) of land and 0.008 square miles of water, for a total area of 841.3 square miles. It ranks #991 of 3,222 U.S. county equivalents by land area.

Is Winkler County the largest county in Texas?

No. Winkler County ranks #187 of 254 in Texas by land area. The largest is Brewster County, with 6,183.8 square miles of land.

What counties border Winkler County?

Winkler County shares a land border with Ward County, Ector County, Loving County, Lea County, New Mexico, and Andrews County.

What is the population of Winkler County?

The Census Bureau estimates Winkler County had 7,540 residents on July 1, 2025, ranking #2,683 of 3,222 county equivalents. That is 9 people per square mile of land.

What is the county seat of Winkler County?

The county seat of Winkler County is Kermit.

What cities and towns are in Winkler County?

Winkler County has 3 incorporated places. The most populous are Kermit city, Wink city, and Monahans city; 590 residents live outside any incorporated place.

Is Winkler County part of a metropolitan area?

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

How many ZIP codes are in Winkler County?

2 ZIP Code Tabulation Areas have land in Winkler County, and 2 of them have most of their land inside the county. Census ZIP Code Tabulation Areas approximate USPS ZIP Code areas.

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

It has less land than every state. Rhode Island, the smallest, has 1.2 times as much land.

How many acres of land are in Winkler County?

The land measurement converts to approximately 538,412 acres. Including water, total area is approximately 538,417 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