Norton city area

Norton city, Virginia covers 7.511 square miles: 7.477 square miles of land and 0.034 square miles of water. An estimated 3,477 people lived there in 2025.

Official Census measurements · GEOID 517202026 Gazetteer · retrieved September 27, 2026
Land area7.477 mi²
Water area0.034 mi²
Population (2025)3,477
People per mi²465

County outline

Generalized outline of Norton city, Virginia
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 Norton city is located

Norton city highlighted on a map of all U.S. county equivalents. About the maps

Area breakdown

Land accounts for 99.5% of Norton city’s measured area and water for 0.5%. Its combined area converts to 19.5 square kilometers or approximately 4,807 acres.

Green: land · blue: water

MeasurementSquare milesSquare kilometersAcres
Land7.47719.3654,785.3
Water0.0340.08821.8
Total7.51119.4534,807

How Norton city compares

By original Census land area, Norton city ranks #126 of 133 in Virginia and #3214 of 3,222 nationally. National rankings include the 50 states, District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.

Its land area is 0.024 times the Virginia county-equivalent median of 310 square miles. It accounts for 0% of the combined county land area in the state.

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

Population and density of Norton city

The Census Bureau estimates that 3,477 people lived in Norton city on July 1, 2025. That ranks #2,999 of 3,222 county equivalents nationally and #132 of 133 in Virginia. Since the April 1, 2020 estimates base of 3,696, the population has declined by 219 (−5.9%), compared with +2.9% for Virginia as a whole.

With 7.5 square miles of land, that is 465 people per square mile (180 per km²), placing Norton city #363 nationally for density and #46 in Virginia. The median county equivalent has 47 people per square mile; the Virginia median is 109. Put another way, there are about 1.4 acres of land per resident.

Estimated population, 2020–2025 · line scaled to this county’s own range
July 1202020212022202320242025
Estimate3,6803,6333,5943,5153,5163,477
Change—−47−39−79+1−39

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 Norton city

Every resident of Norton city lives within Norton city. The city and the county equivalent cover the same territory, 7.477 square miles of land in the 2026 place Gazetteer, so there are no separate towns or unincorporated areas to list.

Metropolitan area

Norton city 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

1 ZIP Code Tabulation Area has land in Norton city; 0 of them have most of their land inside the county, and the others mainly cover neighboring areas.

24273

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 Norton city

Norton city shares a land border with 1 county equivalent. Wise County has 54 times its land area.

Map of Norton city and the 1 county equivalent that border it Wise County, Virginia: 403.4 mi² land
Norton city (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. Norton cityCompare
Wise County403.454× largerCompare

How big is Norton city compared with U.S. states?

Norton city has less land than any of the 50 states. Rhode Island, the smallest state by land area, has 1,033.9 mi², about 138 times as much. Virginia’s county land could hold about 5,280 areas the size of Norton city.

Land area: Norton city and the closest-sized states
Norton city7.5 mi²
Rhode Island1,033.9 mi²

Another way to picture it: the same land area would fill a square about 2.73 miles (4.4 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 Norton city?

Norton city has more land than 8 of the other 3,221 county equivalents in the dataset.

Land area compared with the typical county equivalent
Norton city7.5 mi²
Virginia median310 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 Norton city at #3,214 nationally by total area, the same position as its land rank. Changing the area definition does not change its position in this release.

Its water share is 0.5%, compared with a national county-equivalent median of 1.2% — 0.7 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 Norton city in the national ranking. They can be in different states and are not necessarily geographic neighbors.

Land rankCounty equivalentLand mi²Comparison
#3213Colonial Heights city, Virginia7.5Compare
#3214Norton city, Virginia7.5This county
#3215Emporia city, Virginia6.6Compare

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 36.931549, -82.625996. 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: 19,366,551 m²; AWATER: 88,961 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 Norton city?

Norton city, Virginia has 7.477 square miles (19.4 km²) of land and 0.034 square miles of water, for a total area of 7.511 square miles. It ranks #3214 of 3,222 U.S. county equivalents by land area.

Is Norton city the largest county in Virginia?

No. Norton city ranks #126 of 133 in Virginia by land area. The largest is Pittsylvania County, with 969 square miles of land.

What counties border Norton city?

Norton city shares a land border with Wise County.

What is the population of Norton city?

The Census Bureau estimates Norton city had 3,477 residents on July 1, 2025, ranking #2,999 of 3,222 county equivalents. That is 465 people per square mile of land.

Is Norton city part of a metropolitan area?

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

How many ZIP codes are in Norton city?

1 ZIP Code Tabulation Area has land in Norton city, and 0 of them have most of their land inside the county. Census ZIP Code Tabulation Areas approximate USPS ZIP Code areas.

How does Norton city compare with U.S. states?

It has less land than every state. Rhode Island, the smallest, has 138.3 times as much land.

How many acres of land are in Norton city?

The land measurement converts to approximately 4,785 acres. Including water, total area is approximately 4,807 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