Prince Edward County area

Prince Edward County, Virginia covers 353.8 square miles: 349.9 square miles of land and 3.892 square miles of water. Its county seat is Farmville. An estimated 22,391 people lived there in 2025.

Official Census measurements · GEOID 511472026 Gazetteer · retrieved September 27, 2026
Land area349.9 mi²
Water area3.892 mi²
Population (2025)22,391
People per mi²64

County outline

Generalized outline of Prince Edward County, 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 Prince Edward County is located

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

Area breakdown

Land accounts for 98.9% of Prince Edward County’s measured area and water for 1.1%. Its combined area converts to 916.4 square kilometers or approximately 226,456 acres.

Green: land · blue: water

MeasurementSquare milesSquare kilometersAcres
Land349.946906.356223,965.4
Water3.89210.082,490.9
Total353.838916.436226,456.3

How Prince Edward County compares

By original Census land area, Prince Edward County ranks #55 of 133 in Virginia and #2680 of 3,222 nationally. National rankings include the 50 states, District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.

Its land area is 1.129 times the Virginia county-equivalent median of 310 square miles. It accounts for 0.9% of the combined county land area in the state.

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

Population and density of Prince Edward County

The Census Bureau estimates that 22,391 people lived in Prince Edward County on July 1, 2025. That ranks #1,759 of 3,222 county equivalents nationally and #77 of 133 in Virginia. Since the April 1, 2020 estimates base of 21,837, the population has grown by 554 (+2.5%), compared with +2.9% for Virginia as a whole.

With 349.9 square miles of land, that is 64 people per square mile (25 per km²), placing Prince Edward County #1,335 nationally for density and #90 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.

Estimated population, 2020–2025 · line scaled to this county’s own range
July 1202020212022202320242025
Estimate21,87921,88421,84822,02222,31922,391
Change—+5−36+174+297+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 Prince Edward County

2 incorporated places lie at least partly in Prince Edward County. Together they are home to 7,085 people (31.6%); the other 15,306 (68.4%) live outside any incorporated place, in unincorporated communities and rural areas.

The largest is Farmville town, with 7,061 residents in the county (the city extends into 1 other county).

Incorporated placePopulation 2025Since 2020Land mi²
Farmville townCounty seat · Also in 1 other county7,061+0.6%7.675
Pamplin City townAlso in 1 other county24+9.1%0.316

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

Metropolitan area

Prince Edward 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

12 ZIP Code Tabulation Areas have land in Prince Edward County; 7 of them have most of their land inside the county, and the others mainly cover neighboring areas.

239012390923922239232393423942239432394723954239582396023966

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 Prince Edward County

Prince Edward County shares a land border with 7 county equivalents. It has more land than 3 of them. The largest neighbor is Buckingham County (579.6 mi²) and the smallest is Cumberland County (297.5 mi²). Together with its neighbors, Prince Edward County forms a block of 3,138 mi² of land, of which it holds 11.2%.

Map of Prince Edward County and the 7 county equivalents that border it Charlotte County, Virginia: 475.3 mi² landCumberland County, Virginia: 297.5 mi² landNottoway County, Virginia: 311.9 mi² landLunenburg County, Virginia: 431.7 mi² landAppomattox County, Virginia: 334.2 mi² landBuckingham County, Virginia: 579.6 mi² landAmelia County, Virginia: 357.8 mi² land
Prince Edward 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. Prince EdwardCompare
Buckingham County579.61.7× largerCompare
Charlotte County475.31.4× largerCompare
Lunenburg County431.71.2× largerCompare
Amelia County357.8about the sameCompare
Appomattox County334.2about the sameCompare
Nottoway County311.91.1× smallerCompare
Cumberland County297.51.2× smallerCompare

How big is Prince Edward County compared with U.S. states?

Prince Edward County has less land than any of the 50 states. Rhode Island, the smallest state by land area, has 1,033.9 mi², about 3 times as much. Virginia’s county land could hold about 113 areas the size of Prince Edward County.

Land area: Prince Edward County and the closest-sized states
Prince Edward County349.9 mi²
Rhode Island1,033.9 mi²

Another way to picture it: the same land area would fill a square about 18.7 miles (30.1 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 Prince Edward County?

Prince Edward County has more land than 542 of the other 3,221 county equivalents in the dataset.

Land area compared with the typical county equivalent
Prince Edward County349.9 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 Prince Edward County at #2,725 nationally by total area, 45 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 1.1%, compared with a national county-equivalent median of 1.2%. The two percentages are within 0.1 percentage points of each other. 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 Prince Edward County in the national ranking. They can be in different states and are not necessarily geographic neighbors.

Land rankCounty equivalentLand mi²Comparison
#2679Owen County, Kentucky350.5Compare
#2680Prince Edward County, Virginia349.9This county
#2681Gilchrist County, Florida349.7Compare

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 37.224881, -78.432957. 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: 906,356,792 m²; AWATER: 10,079,283 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 Prince Edward County?

Prince Edward County, Virginia has 349.9 square miles (906.4 km²) of land and 3.892 square miles of water, for a total area of 353.8 square miles. It ranks #2680 of 3,222 U.S. county equivalents by land area.

Is Prince Edward County the largest county in Virginia?

No. Prince Edward County ranks #55 of 133 in Virginia by land area. The largest is Pittsylvania County, with 969 square miles of land.

What counties border Prince Edward County?

Prince Edward County shares a land border with Charlotte County, Cumberland County, Nottoway County, Lunenburg County, Appomattox County, Buckingham County, and Amelia County.

What is the population of Prince Edward County?

The Census Bureau estimates Prince Edward County had 22,391 residents on July 1, 2025, ranking #1,759 of 3,222 county equivalents. That is 64 people per square mile of land.

What is the county seat of Prince Edward County?

The county seat of Prince Edward County is Farmville.

What cities and towns are in Prince Edward County?

Prince Edward County has 2 incorporated places. The most populous are Farmville town and Pamplin City town; 15,306 residents live outside any incorporated place.

Is Prince Edward County part of a metropolitan area?

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

How many ZIP codes are in Prince Edward County?

12 ZIP Code Tabulation Areas have land in Prince Edward County, and 7 of them have most of their land inside the county. Census ZIP Code Tabulation Areas approximate USPS ZIP Code areas.

How does Prince Edward County compare with U.S. states?

It has less land than every state. Rhode Island, the smallest, has 3 times as much land.

How many acres of land are in Prince Edward County?

The land measurement converts to approximately 223,965 acres. Including water, total area is approximately 226,456 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

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