Pittsylvania County area

Population and density of Pittsylvania County

The Census Bureau estimates that 59,490 people lived in Pittsylvania County on July 1, 2025. That ranks #910 of 3,222 county equivalents nationally and #31 of 133 in Virginia. Since the April 1, 2020 estimates base of 60,499, the population has declined by 1,009 (−1.7%), compared with +2.9% for Virginia as a whole.

With 969 square miles of land, that is 61 people per square mile (24 per km²), placing Pittsylvania County #1,368 nationally for density and #94 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 Pittsylvania County

3 incorporated places lie at least partly in Pittsylvania County. Together they are home to 3,705 people (6.2%); the other 55,785 (93.8%) live outside any incorporated place, in unincorporated communities and rural areas.

The largest is Gretna town, with 1,280 residents in the county. The county seat, Chatham town, has 1,191 residents. By land, Hurt town is the largest at 3.476 mi².

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

Metropolitan area

Pittsylvania County is a central county of the Danville, VA Micropolitan Statistical Area. Its 2 county equivalents have 101,137 residents on 1,011.8 square miles of land; Pittsylvania County accounts for 95.8% of the land and 58.8% of the residents. By combined land it ranks #176 of 542 micropolitan areas, and #34 by population.

ZIP codes

20 ZIP Code Tabulation Areas have land in Pittsylvania County; 15 of them have most of their land inside the county, and the others mainly cover neighboring areas.

2405424069241372413924161245272453024531245402454124549245572456324565245662456924586245922459424597

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 Pittsylvania County

Pittsylvania County shares a land border with 8 county equivalents, including 2 in North Carolina. It has more land than every one of them. The largest neighbor is Halifax County (817.7 mi²) and the smallest is Danville city (42.8 mi²). Together with its neighbors, Pittsylvania County forms a block of 5,157 mi² of land, of which it holds 18.8%.

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

Pittsylvania County has less land than any of the 50 states. Rhode Island, the smallest state by land area, has 1,033.9 mi², about 1.1 times as much. Virginia’s county land could hold about 41 areas the size of Pittsylvania County.

Another way to picture it: the same land area would fill a square about 31.1 miles (50.1 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 Pittsylvania County?

Pittsylvania County has more land than 2,498 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 Pittsylvania County at #806 nationally by total area, 82 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% — 0.2 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 Pittsylvania 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.