List of counties in Kentucky
This is a list of the one hundred and twenty counties in the U.S. state of Kentucky. Despite ranking 37th in size, Kentucky has 120 counties, third in the U.S. behind Texas' 254 and Georgia's 159.[1] The original motivation for having so many counties was to ensure that residents in the days of poor roads and horseback travel could make a round trip from their home to the county seat and back in a single day.[2] Later, however, politics began to play a part, with citizens who disagreed with the present county government simply petitioning the state to create a new county. The 1891 Kentucky Constitution placed stricter limits on county creation, stipulating that a new county:
- must have a land area of at least 400 square miles;
- must have a population of at least 12,000 people;
- must not by its creation reduce the land area of an existing county to less than 400 square miles;
- must not by its creation reduce the population of an existing county to less than 12,000 people;
- must not create a county boundary line that passes within 10 miles of an existing county seat.
These regulations have reined in the proliferation of counties in Kentucky. Since the 1891 Constitution, only McCreary County has been created.[3]
Because today's largest county by area, Pike County, is 788 square miles, it is now impossible to create a new county from a single existing county under the current constitution. Any county created in this manner will by necessity either be smaller than 400 square miles or reduce the land area of the old county to less than 400 square miles. It is still theoretically possible to form a new county from portions of more than one existing county (McCreary County was formed in this manner), but the area and boundary restrictions would make this extremely difficult.
The Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) code, which is used by the United States government to uniquely identify counties, is provided with each entry. The FIPS code for each county links to census data for that county.
| County | FIPS Code | County Seat | Year formed | Formed from | Named for | Location in Kentucky |
| Campbell County | Template:CenCo | Alexandria and Newport |
1794 | Harrison County, Mason County and Scott County | John Campbell (1735–1799), Revolutionary War soldier | 
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kenton County | Template:CenCo | Covington and Independence | 1840 | Campbell County | Simon Kenton (1755–1836), pioneer | 
|
| Muhlenberg County | Template:CenCo | Greenville | 1798 [4] | Christian County and Logan County | John Peter Muhlenberg (1746–1807), Revolutionary War general | 
|
References
- Kleber, John E., ed. (1992). The Kentucky Encyclopedia. Associate editors: Thomas D. Clark, Lowell H. Harrison, and James C. Klotter. Lexington, Kentucky: The University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 0813117720. (Main reference for data in the list, unless otherwise noted).
- ^ "How Many Counties are in Your State?". Click and Learn. Retrieved 2006-11-29.
- ^ Kleber, John E., ed. (1992). "Counties". The Kentucky Encyclopedia. Associate editors: Thomas D. Clark, Lowell H. Harrison, and James C. Klotter. Lexington, Kentucky: The University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 0813117720.
- ^ "Fiscal Court". County Government in Kentucky: Informational Bulletin No. 115. Frankfort, Kentucky: Kentucky Legislative Research Commission. 1996.
- ^ "Muhlenberg County, Kentucky". Kentucky Comprehensive Genealogy Database. Retrieved 2007-01-26.