Barron County area

Population and density of Barron County

The Census Bureau estimates that 46,484 people lived in Barron County on July 1, 2025. That ranks #1,080 of 3,222 county equivalents nationally and #31 of 72 in Wisconsin. Since the April 1, 2020 estimates base of 46,707, the population has declined by 223 (−0.5%), compared with +1.3% for Wisconsin as a whole.

With 863.1 square miles of land, that is 54 people per square mile (21 per km²), placing Barron County #1,478 nationally for density and #35 in Wisconsin. The median county equivalent has 47 people per square mile; the Wisconsin median is 51. Put another way, there are about 12 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 Barron County

Barron County is divided into 36 cities and towns. In Wisconsin, county subdivisions are local governments, and together they cover all of the county’s land and residents.

The most populous is Rice Lake city, with 8,882 residents (19.1% of the county). The largest by land is Stanfold town, at 35.9 mi², or 4.2% of the county’s land. The county seat, Barron city, has 3,634 residents. Among those with at least 1,000 residents in 2020, Rice Lake town grew fastest since then (+3.5%).

Population: U.S. Census Bureau Vintage 2025 subcounty estimates, counting only the part of each subdivision inside Barron County. Land: 2026 Census Gazetteer. How communities are listed.

Metropolitan area

Barron County is a central county of the Rice Lake, WI Micropolitan Statistical Area. Barron County is the area’s only county equivalent, so the micro area has the same 863.1 square miles of land. By combined land it ranks #239 of 542 micropolitan areas, and #255 by population.

ZIP codes

19 ZIP Code Tabulation Areas have land in Barron County; 11 of them have most of their land inside the county, and the others mainly cover neighboring areas.

54004540055472854733547575476254763548055481254813548175482254826548295484154857548685487054889

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 Barron County

Barron County shares a land border with 6 county equivalents. It has more land than 3 of them. The largest neighbor is Chippewa County (1,008.4 mi²) and the smallest is Washburn County (797.1 mi²). Together with its neighbors, Barron County forms a block of 6,168.2 mi² of land, of which it holds 14%.

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

Barron County has less land than any of the 50 states. Rhode Island, the smallest state by land area, has 1,033.9 mi², about 1.2 times as much. Wisconsin’s county land could hold about 63 areas the size of Barron County.

Another way to picture it: the same land area would fill a square about 29.4 miles (47.3 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 Barron County?

Barron County has more land than 2,266 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 Barron County at #1,009 nationally by total area, 53 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 3%, compared with a national county-equivalent median of 1.2% — 1.8 percentage points higher. 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 Barron 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.