Botetourt County area

Population and density of Botetourt County

The Census Bureau estimates that 34,144 people lived in Botetourt County on July 1, 2025. That ranks #1,372 of 3,222 county equivalents nationally and #51 of 133 in Virginia. Since the April 1, 2020 estimates base of 33,588, the population has grown by 556 (+1.7%), compared with +2.9% for Virginia as a whole.

With 541.3 square miles of land, that is 63 people per square mile (24 per km²), placing Botetourt County #1,350 nationally for density and #92 in Virginia. The median county equivalent has 47 people per square mile; the Virginia median is 109. Put another way, there are about 10 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 Botetourt County

3 incorporated places lie at least partly in Botetourt County. Together they are home to 2,505 people (7.3%); the other 31,639 (92.7%) live outside any incorporated place, in unincorporated communities and rural areas.

The largest is Buchanan town, with 1,212 residents in the county. The county seat, Fincastle town, has 825 residents.

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

Metropolitan area

Botetourt County is a central county of the Roanoke, VA Metropolitan Statistical Area. Its 6 county equivalents have 316,547 residents on 1,867.6 square miles of land; Botetourt County accounts for 29% of the land and 10.8% of the residents. By combined land it ranks #168 of 393 metropolitan areas, and #167 by population.

ZIP codes

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

240122401924064240662407724083240852409024153241752442224450

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 Botetourt County

Botetourt County shares a land border with 5 county equivalents. It has more land than 3 of them. The largest neighbor is Bedford County (760.1 mi²) and the smallest is Roanoke County (250.5 mi²). Together with its neighbors, Botetourt County forms a block of 2,923.2 mi² of land, of which it holds 18.5%.

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

Botetourt County has less land than any of the 50 states. Rhode Island, the smallest state by land area, has 1,033.9 mi², about 1.9 times as much. Virginia’s county land could hold about 73 areas the size of Botetourt County.

Another way to picture it: the same land area would fill a square about 23.3 miles (37.4 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 Botetourt County?

Botetourt County has more land than 1,292 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 Botetourt County at #2,019 nationally by total area, 89 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 0.9%, compared with a national county-equivalent median of 1.2% — 0.3 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 Botetourt 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.