Sauk County area

Sauk County, Wisconsin covers 849.2 square miles: 831.6 square miles of land and 17.6 square miles of water. Its county seat is Baraboo. An estimated 66,652 people lived there in 2025.

Official Census measurements · GEOID 551112026 Gazetteer · retrieved September 27, 2026
Land area831.6 mi²
Water area17.6 mi²
Population (2025)66,652
People per mi²80

County outline

Generalized outline of Sauk County, Wisconsin
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 Sauk County is located

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

Area breakdown

Land accounts for 97.9% of Sauk County’s measured area and water for 2.1%. Its combined area converts to 2,199.4 square kilometers or approximately 543,478 acres.

Green: land · blue: water

MeasurementSquare milesSquare kilometersAcres
Land831.5892,153.806532,217
Water17.59645.57311,261.4
Total849.1852,199.379543,478.4

How Sauk County compares

By original Census land area, Sauk County ranks #27 of 72 in Wisconsin and #1012 of 3,222 nationally. National rankings include the 50 states, District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.

Its land area is 1.104 times the Wisconsin county-equivalent median of 753 square miles. It accounts for 1.5% of the combined county land area in the state.

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

Population and density of Sauk County

The Census Bureau estimates that 66,652 people lived in Sauk County on July 1, 2025. That ranks #833 of 3,222 county equivalents nationally and #25 of 72 in Wisconsin. Since the April 1, 2020 estimates base of 65,774, the population has grown by 878 (+1.3%), compared with +1.3% for Wisconsin as a whole.

With 831.6 square miles of land, that is 80 people per square mile (31 per km²), placing Sauk County #1,156 nationally for density and #25 in Wisconsin. The median county equivalent has 47 people per square mile; the Wisconsin median is 51. Put another way, there are about 8 acres of land per resident.

Estimated population, 2020–2025 · line scaled to this county’s own range
July 1202020212022202320242025
Estimate65,79665,71365,94466,21666,55366,652
Change—−83+231+272+337+99

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 Sauk County

Sauk County is divided into 39 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 Baraboo city, with 13,224 residents (19.8% of the county). The largest by land is Troy town, at 52.9 mi², or 6.4% of the county’s land. Among those with at least 1,000 residents in 2020, Reedsburg city grew fastest since then (+6%).

County subdivisionPopulation 2025Since 2020Land mi²Share of county land
Baraboo cityCounty seat13,224+5.4%7.5920.9%
Reedsburg city10,641+6%6.0980.7%
Prairie du Sac village4,316−2.4%2.0050.2%
Lake Delton village3,451−1.7%8.0081%
Sauk City village3,439−2.2%1.6030.2%
Delton town2,441−0.9%27.23.3%
Dellona town1,912+0.6%354.2%
Spring Green town1,804−1.1%43.15.2%
Baraboo townCounty seat1,778−1.6%30.63.7%
Excelsior town1,616+0.8%33.64%
West Baraboo village1,572−3.6%1.2610.2%
Spring Green village1,567+0.2%1.6680.2%
La Valle town1,443+1.3%33.74%
Merrimac town1,296+3.8%24.22.9%
Reedsburg town1,126−1%29.83.6%
Show the other 24 subdivisions
NamePopulation 2025Since 2020Land mi²
Fairfield town1,046−3.2%33.4
Prairie du Sac town1,044−2.6%28.8
Sumpter town1,030−3%37.6
Washington town1,028+0.6%35.5
Winfield town882−1.1%35
Greenfield town881−2.1%27.7
Woodland town865+3%36
Troy town766−2.3%52.9
Honey Creek town722−2.4%47.6
Plain village717−3.6%0.909
Franklin town652−2.5%48.8
Ironton town646−1.5%35.1
Bear Creek town630−1.9%49.6
Wisconsin Dells city582+50.8%2.229
Westfield town573−2.1%35.7
North Freedom village572−5.3%0.838
Merrimac village523+0.8%0.823
Freedom town453−0.2%34.3
Rock Springs village348+6.4%1.299
La Valle village345−11.5%0.398
Loganville village285−5%0.265
Ironton village260−5.1%0.333
Lime Ridge village156−3.1%1.001
Cazenovia village20−4.8%0.013

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

Metropolitan area

Sauk County is a central county of the Baraboo, WI Micropolitan Statistical Area. Sauk County is the area’s only county equivalent, so the micro area has the same 831.6 square miles of land. By combined land it ranks #247 of 542 micropolitan areas, and #128 by population. It belongs to the Madison-Janesville-Beloit, WI Combined Statistical Area.

ZIP codes

19 ZIP Code Tabulation Areas have land in Sauk County; 14 of them have most of their land inside the county, and the others mainly cover neighboring areas.

53556535615357753578535835358853913539245393753940539415394253943539445395153959539615396553968

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 Sauk County

Sauk County shares a land border with 6 county equivalents. It has more land than 5 of them. The largest neighbor is Dane County (1,196.5 mi²) and the smallest is Richland County (586.2 mi²). Together with its neighbors, Sauk County forms a block of 5,701.2 mi² of land, of which it holds 14.6%.

Map of Sauk County and the 6 county equivalents that border it Richland County, Wisconsin: 586.2 mi² landColumbia County, Wisconsin: 765.6 mi² landJuneau County, Wisconsin: 767.1 mi² landIowa County, Wisconsin: 762.7 mi² landDane County, Wisconsin: 1,196.5 mi² landVernon County, Wisconsin: 791.6 mi² land
Sauk 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. SaukCompare
Dane County1,196.51.4× largerCompare
Vernon County791.61.1× smallerCompare
Juneau County767.11.1× smallerCompare
Columbia County765.61.1× smallerCompare
Iowa County762.71.1× smallerCompare
Richland County586.21.4× smallerCompare

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

Sauk 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 65 areas the size of Sauk County.

Land area: Sauk County and the closest-sized states
Sauk County831.6 mi²
Rhode Island1,033.9 mi²

Another way to picture it: the same land area would fill a square about 28.8 miles (46.4 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 Sauk County?

Sauk County has more land than 2,210 of the other 3,221 county equivalents in the dataset.

Land area compared with the typical county equivalent
Sauk County831.6 mi²
Wisconsin median753 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 Sauk County at #1,088 nationally by total area, 76 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 2.1%, compared with a national county-equivalent median of 1.2% — 0.9 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 Sauk County in the national ranking. They can be in different states and are not necessarily geographic neighbors.

Land rankCounty equivalentLand mi²Comparison
#1011Kingsbury County, South Dakota832.2Compare
#1012Sauk County, Wisconsin831.6This county
#1013Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana831.4Compare

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 43.428001, -89.943318. 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: 2,153,804,717 m²; AWATER: 45,574,257 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 Sauk County?

Sauk County, Wisconsin has 831.6 square miles (2,153.8 km²) of land and 17.6 square miles of water, for a total area of 849.2 square miles. It ranks #1012 of 3,222 U.S. county equivalents by land area.

Is Sauk County the largest county in Wisconsin?

No. Sauk County ranks #27 of 72 in Wisconsin by land area. The largest is Marathon County, with 1,545.2 square miles of land.

What counties border Sauk County?

Sauk County shares a land border with Richland County, Columbia County, Juneau County, Iowa County, Dane County, and Vernon County.

What is the population of Sauk County?

The Census Bureau estimates Sauk County had 66,652 residents on July 1, 2025, ranking #833 of 3,222 county equivalents. That is 80 people per square mile of land.

What is the county seat of Sauk County?

The county seat of Sauk County is Baraboo.

What cities and towns are in Sauk County?

Sauk County has 39 county subdivisions (cities, towns and townships). The most populous five are Baraboo city, Reedsburg city, Prairie du Sac village, Lake Delton village, and Sauk City village.

Is Sauk County part of a metropolitan area?

Yes. It is a central county of the Baraboo, WI Micropolitan Statistical Area.

How many ZIP codes are in Sauk County?

19 ZIP Code Tabulation Areas have land in Sauk County, and 14 of them have most of their land inside the county. Census ZIP Code Tabulation Areas approximate USPS ZIP Code areas.

How does Sauk County compare with U.S. states?

It has less land than every state. Rhode Island, the smallest, has 1.2 times as much land.

How many acres of land are in Sauk County?

The land measurement converts to approximately 532,217 acres. Including water, total area is approximately 543,478 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