Randolph County area

Population and density of Randolph County

The Census Bureau estimates that 26,882 people lived in Randolph County on July 1, 2025. That ranks #1,587 of 3,222 county equivalents nationally and #21 of 55 in West Virginia. Since the April 1, 2020 estimates base of 27,932, the population has declined by 1,050 (−3.8%), compared with −1.5% for West Virginia as a whole.

With 1,039.7 square miles of land, that is 26 people per square mile (10 per km²), placing Randolph County #2,122 nationally for density and #42 in West Virginia. The median county equivalent has 47 people per square mile; the West Virginia median is 45. Put another way, there are about 25 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 Randolph County

7 incorporated places lie at least partly in Randolph County. Together they are home to 8,282 people (30.8%); the other 18,600 (69.2%) live outside any incorporated place, in unincorporated communities and rural areas.

The largest is Elkins city, with 6,622 residents in the county.

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

Metropolitan area

Randolph County is a central county of the Elkins, WV Micropolitan Statistical Area. Randolph County is the area’s only county equivalent, so the micro area has the same 1,039.7 square miles of land. By combined land it ranks #170 of 542 micropolitan areas, and #462 by population.

ZIP codes

23 ZIP Code Tabulation Areas have land in Randolph County; 22 of them have most of their land inside the county, and the others mainly cover neighboring areas.

2622426230262362624126250262532625426257262592626326267262682627026273262762627826280262822628326285262932629426296

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 Randolph County

Randolph County shares a land border with 7 county equivalents. It has more land than every one of them. The largest neighbor is Pocahontas County (940.2 mi²) and the smallest is Barbour County (341.1 mi²). Together with its neighbors, Randolph County forms a block of 4,821.6 mi² of land, of which it holds 21.6%.

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

Randolph County has more land than 1 of the 50 states. It is about 1 times the land area of Rhode Island (1,033.9 mi²), while Delaware, the next larger state, has 1.9 times as much land (1,948.6 mi²). West Virginia’s county land could hold about 23 areas the size of Randolph County.

Another way to picture it: the same land area would fill a square about 32.2 miles (51.9 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 Randolph County?

Randolph County has more land than 2,589 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 Randolph County at #734 nationally by total area, 101 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% — 1.1 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 Randolph 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.