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Fayette County, Kentucky
Robert F. Stephens Courthouse, Fayette County Kentucky
Robert F. Stephens Courthouse Complex in Lexington
Map of Kentucky highlighting Fayette County
Location in the state of Kentucky
Map of the U.S
Kentucky's location in the U.S.
Founded 1780
Named for Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette
Seat Lexington
Largest city Lexington
Area
 - Total
 - Land
 - Water

286 sq mi (741 km²)
284 sq mi (736 km²)
1.9 sq mi (5 km²), 0.7%
Population
 - (2020)
 - Density

322,570
1,087/sq mi (420/km²)
Congressional district 6th
Time zone Eastern: UTC-5/-4
Website www.lexingtonky.gov

Fayette County is a county located in the U.S. Commonwealth of Kentucky. As of the 2020 census, the population was 322,570,[1] making it the second-most populous county in Kentucky. Its territory, population and government are coextensive with the city of Lexington, which also serves as county seat.[2]

Fayette County is part of the Lexington–Fayette, KY Metropolitan Statistical Area.

History[]

Fayette County was one of the original three counties created from the former Kentucky County, Virginia, by the Virginia Act in 1780, along with Jefferson and Lincoln counties. Together they separated from Virginia in 1792 to become the Commonwealth of Kentucky.

Originally, Fayette County included land which makes up 37 present-day counties and parts of 7 others. It was reduced to its present boundaries in 1799. The county is named for the Marquis de LaFayette, who came to America to support the rebelling English colonies in the American Revolutionary War.[3][4]

On January 1, 1974, Fayette County merged its government with that of its county seat of Lexington, creating a consolidated city-county governed by the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government.

Geography[]

Fayette County tree

Sycamore tree in Fayette County, Kentucky

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 286 square miles (740 km2), of which 284 square miles (740 km2) is land and 1.9 square miles (4.9 km2) (0.7%) is water.[5]

Major highways[]

  • Interstate 75
  • Interstate 64
  • U.S. Route 25
  • U.S. Route 27
  • U.S. Route 60
  • U.S. Route 68
  • U.S. Route 421
  • Kentucky Route 4, a.k.a. New Circle Road

Adjacent counties[]

Demographics[]

Historical populations
Census Pop.
1790 18,410
1800 14,028 −23.8%
1810 21,370 52.3%
1820 23,250 8.8%
1830 25,098 7.9%
1840 22,194 −11.6%
1850 22,735 2.4%
1860 22,599 −0.6%
1870 26,656 18.0%
1880 29,023 8.9%
1890 35,698 23.0%
1900 42,071 17.9%
1910 47,715 13.4%
1920 54,664 14.6%
1930 68,543 25.4%
1940 78,899 15.1%
1950 100,746 27.7%
1960 131,906 30.9%
1970 174,323 32.2%
1980 204,165 17.1%
1990 225,366 10.4%
2000 260,512 15.6%
2010 295,803 13.5%
U.S. Decennial Census[6]
1790-1960[7] 1900-1990[8]
1990-2000[9] 2010-2020[1]

As of the census[10] of 2000, there were 260,512 people, 108,288 households, and 62,915 families residing in the county. The population density was 916 people per square mile (354/km²). There were 116,167 housing units at an average density of 408 per square mile (158/km²). The racial makeup of the county was 81.04% White, 13.48% Black or African American, 0.19% Native American, 2.46% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 1.21% from other races, and 1.58% from two or more races. 3.29% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

There were 108,288 households out of which 27.30% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 43.50% were married couples living together, 11.50% had a female householder with no husband present, and 41.90% were non-families. 31.70% of all households were made up of individuals and 7.50% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.29 and the average family size was 2.90.

In the county, the population was spread out with 21.30% under the age of 18, 14.60% from 18 to 24, 33.20% from 25 to 44, 20.90% from 45 to 64, and 10.00% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 33 years. For every 100 females there were 96.50 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 94.30 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $39,813, and the median income for a family was $53,264. Males had a median income of $36,166 versus $26,964 for females. The per capita income for the county was $23,109. About 8.20% of families and 12.90% of the population were below the poverty line, including 14.30% of those under age 18 and 8.60% of those age 65 or over.

Education[]

Public high schools[]

Schools in the county are operated by Fayette County Public Schools.

  • Henry Clay High School
  • Paul Laurence Dunbar High School
  • Frederick Douglass High School
  • Bryan Station High School
  • Lafayette High School
  • Tates Creek High School
  • STEAM Academy (Day-Care)

Private middle and elementary schools[]

Private high schools[]

Colleges and universities[]

  • Bluegrass Community and Technical College
  • Indiana Wesleyan University (Lexington campus)
  • ITT Technical Institute
  • Lexington Theological Seminary
  • Midway College (Lexington campus)[11]
  • National College of Business & Technology
  • Spencerian College
  • Sullivan University
  • Transylvania University
  • University of Kentucky

Politics[]

Unlike almost all of the rest of Kentucky, Fayette County has trended towards the Democratic Party in recent years rather than away from them. Between 1952 and 2004, it voted for the Republican nominee all but twice, for Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964 and Bill Clinton in 1996.

Until the mid-2000s, it did not swing as heavily to the Democrats as other urban counties. From 1992 to 2016, it was a swing county with close results between the two parties. In 2008, Barack Obama became the first Democrat to win the county since Bill Clinton in 1996, and the first to Democrat to win a majority of its votes since LBJ. In 2016, Hillary Clinton won the county by the biggest margin since LBJ, although it was one of only two counties in the entire Commonwealth to vote for her, the other being Jefferson County, home to the city of Louisville. In 2020, Joe Biden turned in the strongest showing for a Democrat in the county in over a century, bettering even Franklin D. Roosevelt. In that year, Fayette County was the most Democratic county in the Commonwealth, giving Biden a slightly larger margin than Jefferson County.

United States presidential election results for Fayette County, Kentucky[12]
Year Republican Democratic Third party
No.  % No.  % No.  %
2020 58,860 38.49% 90,600 59.25% 3,452 2.26%
2016 56,894 41.74% 69,778 51.19% 9,643 7.07%
2012 60,795 48.30% 62,080 49.32% 2,991 2.38%
2008 59,884 46.91% 66,042 51.74% 1,722 1.35%
2004 66,406 52.88% 57,994 46.18% 1,176 0.94%
2000 54,495 51.67% 47,277 44.82% 3,705 3.51%
1996 42,930 46.33% 43,632 47.09% 6,102 6.59%
1992 41,908 43.87% 38,306 40.10% 15,320 16.04%
1988 48,065 58.96% 32,554 39.93% 906 1.11%
1984 51,993 63.60% 28,961 35.43% 792 0.97%
1980 35,349 49.22% 30,511 42.48% 5,957 8.29%
1976 35,170 54.12% 28,012 43.10% 1,807 2.78%
1972 42,362 66.54% 19,828 31.14% 1,476 2.32%
1968 24,948 49.53% 16,902 33.55% 8,523 16.92%
1964 18,739 42.40% 25,317 57.29% 136 0.31%
1960 25,169 60.43% 16,478 39.57% 0 0.00%
1956 21,904 61.38% 13,547 37.96% 232 0.65%
1952 17,376 54.66% 14,275 44.91% 138 0.43%
1948 10,959 41.91% 13,202 50.49% 1,988 7.60%
1944 10,857 44.14% 13,567 55.15% 174 0.71%
1940 12,514 44.01% 15,834 55.69% 84 0.30%
1936 11,544 44.10% 14,428 55.12% 203 0.78%
1932 11,847 42.51% 15,765 56.57% 257 0.92%
1928 16,988 65.11% 9,065 34.74% 39 0.15%
1924 11,755 52.20% 10,433 46.33% 331 1.47%
1920 11,032 45.70% 12,926 53.55% 181 0.75%
1916 5,472 45.95% 6,348 53.30% 89 0.75%
1912 4,060 37.80% 5,268 49.04% 1,414 13.16%
1908 4,748 46.76% 5,247 51.68% 158 1.56%
1904 3,947 42.87% 5,119 55.60% 141 1.53%
1900 5,302 54.78% 4,293 44.36% 83 0.86%
1896 5,143 55.54% 3,938 42.53% 179 1.93%
1892 2,431 37.19% 3,753 57.42% 352 5.39%
1888 3,301 48.13% 3,435 50.08% 123 1.79%
1884 3,000 53.19% 2,593 45.98% 47 0.83%
1880 2,830 53.20% 2,449 46.03% 41 0.77%



Communities[]

Hempfieldkentucky1898

Hemp production was a major crop

City[]

Unincorporated communities[]

Historically black hamlets[]

  • Bracktown
  • Cadentown
  • Jimtown
  • Smithtown
  • Little Georgetown
  • Pralltown

See also[]

  • National Register of Historic Places listings in Fayette County, Kentucky

References[]

  1. ^ a b "State & County QuickFacts". United States Census Bureau. http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/21/21067.html. Retrieved August 14, 2014. 
  2. ^ "Find a County". National Association of Counties. Archived from the original on May 10, 2015. http://www.webcitation.org/6YQozzgAf?url=http://www.naco.org/Counties/Pages/FindACounty.aspx. Retrieved 2011-06-07. 
  3. ^ The Register of the Kentucky State Historical Society, Volume 1. Kentucky State Historical Society. 1903. pp. 35. https://books.google.com/books?id=luoxAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA35#v=onepage&q&f=false. 
  4. ^ Gannett, Henry (1905). The Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States. Govt. Print. Off.. pp. 124. https://books.google.com/books?id=9V1IAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA124#v=onepage&q&f=false. 
  5. ^ "2010 Census Gazetteer Files". United States Census Bureau. August 22, 2012. http://www.census.gov/geo/maps-data/data/docs/gazetteer/counties_list_21.txt. Retrieved August 14, 2014. 
  6. ^ "U.S. Decennial Census". United States Census Bureau. Archived from the original on May 12, 2015. http://www.webcitation.org/6YSasqtfX?url=http://www.census.gov/prod/www/decennial.html. Retrieved August 14, 2014. 
  7. ^ "Historical Census Browser". University of Virginia Library. http://mapserver.lib.virginia.edu. Retrieved August 14, 2014. 
  8. ^ "Population of Counties by Decennial Census: 1900 to 1990". United States Census Bureau. http://www.census.gov/population/cencounts/ky190090.txt. Retrieved August 14, 2014. 
  9. ^ "Census 2000 PHC-T-4. Ranking Tables for Counties: 1990 and 2000". United States Census Bureau. http://www.census.gov/population/www/cen2000/briefs/phc-t4/tables/tab02.pdf. Retrieved August 14, 2014. 
  10. ^ "American FactFinder". United States Census Bureau. Archived from the original on 2013-09-11. https://web.archive.org/web/20130911234518/http://factfinder2.census.gov. Retrieved 2008-01-31. 
  11. ^ "Midway College - Lexington Campus". http://www.midway.edu/node/84. Retrieved May 13, 2011. 
  12. ^ Leip, David. "Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections". http://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS. 

External links[]

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Coordinates: 38°02′N 84°28′W / 38.04, -84.46


This page uses content from the English language Wikipedia. The original content was at Fayette County, Kentucky. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with this Familypedia wiki, the content of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons License.
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