Randolph County
Arkansas · County seat: Pocahontas · Active county or equivalent
FIPS code 05121 is Randolph County, Arkansas. With a population of 18,619 (2022 ACS estimate), it ranks #37 in Arkansas and #1942 nationally. The state FIPS code for Arkansas is 05. This code is used in Census Bureau, BLS, EPA, HUD, and USDA federal datasets to identify this county.
County FIPS
05121
Population
18,619
2022 ACS · #1942 nationally
Density
28.6/mi²
people per sq mile
Land Area
652
sq miles
Urban/Rural
Nonmetro — urban 2.5K–19.9K, not adjacent to metro
RUCC 7
How This FIPS Code Works
The 5-digit FIPS code 05121 is formed by combining the 2-digit state identifier 05 (Arkansas) with the 3-digit county identifier 121. Together they uniquely identify Randolph County in every US federal dataset. No two counties share the same 5-digit FIPS code.
Census ACS Data for FIPS 05121
From the 2022 ACS 5-year estimates — the same values you'd retrieve by querying the Census API with county FIPS 05121.
Median Household Income
$45,993
ACS B19013_001E
Poverty Rate
19.2%
ACS B17001 (below poverty level)
Median Age
39.1
ACS B01002_001E
Adjacent Counties (6)
Counties that share a border with Randolph County. Useful for regional analysis — these are the geographies you'd typically include when studying labor markets, commuting zones, or environmental spillovers around FIPS 05121.
Federal Datasets Using Code 05121
FIPS code 05121 appears as the county identifier in the following federal datasets. Analysts joining data across these sources use this code as the common geographic key.
Using FIPS Code 05121 in Code
Common patterns for querying federal datasets by this county's FIPS code. The leading zeros are significant — always treat FIPS codes as strings, not integers.
import requests
url = "https://api.census.gov/data/2022/acs/acs5"
params = {
"get": "NAME,B19013_001E,B01003_001E",
"for": "county:121",
"in": "state:05",
"key": "YOUR_CENSUS_API_KEY",
}
r = requests.get(url, params=params)
data = r.json() # [[header...], [Randolph County, Arkansas, income, pop, ...]-- 5-digit combined FIPS (state + county)
SELECT * FROM your_table WHERE county_fips = '05121';
-- Some datasets store state and county separately
SELECT * FROM your_table
WHERE state_fips = '05'
AND county_fips = '121';
-- ⚠ Never cast to integer — leading zeros are lost:
-- county_fips = 5121 is WRONG for this countylibrary(tidycensus)
get_acs(
geography = "county",
variables = c(income = "B19013_001E", pop = "B01003_001E"),
state = "05",
county = "121",
year = 2022
)ZIP Codes in Randolph County
ZIP codes do not align perfectly with county boundaries — a single ZIP code can span multiple counties, and a county can contain parts of many ZIP codes. The ratios below (from the Census 2020 ZCTA relationship file) show the land area share of each ZCTA that falls within Randolph County. Why FIPS ≠ ZIP →
| ZIP Code | % in county |
|---|---|
| 72478 | 100.0% |
| 72444 | 100.0% |
| 72449 | 100.0% |
| 72455 | 100.0% |
| 72460 | 100.0% |
| 72462 | 100.0% |
| 72413 | 80.0% |
| 72434 | 68.1% |
| 72459 | 39.3% |
| 72425 | 17.8% |
| 72476 | 8.9% |