Despite considerable scholarly interest and recent advances in research, our knowledge of how jurisdiction size influences political efficacy remains fragmentary. This study contributes to the literature by exploring the linkage between the size of county jurisdiction, in terms of county population, and external political efficacy in China. Results from simple regressions indicate that, on average, external political efficacy declines with the size of county jurisdiction. Further analysis via a quantile perspective provides evidence that the influence of size upon external political efficacy varies across different parts of the outcome distribution. We observe a negative and pronounced effect in the lower tail of the distribution, but a positive and trivial effect in the upper tail. Our study highlights citizens’ divergent perceptions about the size of political jurisdiction and offers new insights into the research on jurisdictional design and political efficacy.