County facts · United States · October 22, 2026
Smallest Counties in the US by Land Area
The 20 smallest US counties by land area, the smallest county equivalents including independent cities, and a link to each official parcel map.
Looking for the smallest counties in the US? Counting only counties, the smallest by land area is Kalawao County, HI, at about 12 square miles in the Census Bureau's 2020 Gazetteer. Counting every county equivalent, the smallest is City of Falls Church, VA, at about 2.0 square miles, because Virginia's independent cities sit outside any county and are counted on their own.
Both lists are below, since which one you want depends on whether you mean "county" in the everyday sense.
The 20 smallest US counties by land area
This list leaves out independent cities and the District of Columbia. Kalawao County, on Molokai's Kalaupapa Peninsula, has no county government of its own. Several others are big-city counties: New York, Bronx, Richmond and Kings counties are boroughs of New York City, San Francisco is a consolidated city and county, and Broomfield, Colorado, became a consolidated city and county in 2001.
The 10 smallest county equivalents of any kind
| # | Name | State | Land (sq mi) | 2023 pop. | Parcel viewer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | City of Falls Church | Virginia | 2.0 | 14,685 | VGIN Virginia Parcels map (Service View) |
| 2 | City of Lexington | Virginia | 2.5 | 7,528 | ArcGIS Experience Builder |
| 3 | City of Manassas Park | Virginia | 3.0 | 16,361 | VGIN Virginia Parcels map (Service View) |
| 4 | City of Covington | Virginia | 5.5 | 5,545 | VGIN Virginia Parcels map (Service View) |
| 5 | City of Fairfax | Virginia | 6.2 | 25,144 | VGIN Virginia Parcels map (Service View) |
| 6 | City of Buena Vista | Virginia | 6.4 | 6,566 | VGIN Virginia Parcels map (Service View) |
| 7 | City of Emporia | Virginia | 6.9 | 5,463 | ArcGIS Experience Builder |
| 8 | City of Norton | Virginia | 7.5 | 3,492 | InteractiveGIS |
| 9 | City of Colonial Heights | Virginia | 7.5 | 18,393 | VGIN Virginia Parcels map (Service View) |
| 10 | City of Galax | Virginia | 8.2 | 6,717 | WebGIS.net |
All 10 are Virginia independent cities.
Small does not mean simple
- Dense parcel maps. Small urban counties often have tens of thousands of parcels in a few square miles, so zoom in before clicking or you may select the wrong lot.
- Water can hide the true footprint. Nantucket County, MA has about 46 sq mi of land but about 257 sq mi of water inside its lines; the land figures in these tables leave water out.
- Records may sit with a city. In an independent city or a consolidated city-county, the city's own offices keep the land records.
Looking for the fewest people rather than the least land? See least populated counties in the US.
Related guides
- Largest counties in the US by land area
- Most populous counties in the US
- Largest county in each state
- Smallest county in each state
- Least populated counties in the US
- Most densely populated counties in the US
- How many counties are in the US
Sources
- U.S. Census Bureau Gazetteer files, 2020 county land and water area (50 states and the District of Columbia; Puerto Rico's municipios are left out).
- U.S. Census Bureau, Population Estimates Program, county totals, Vintage 2023 (July 1, 2023 estimates)
- Platbookmapper county GIS directory (live data file behind our county pages, pulled October 22, 2026) for each official parcel viewer.