Kentucky Counties: History and Information

Find a brief history of Kentucky Counties

This is a list of the one hundred and twenty (120) counties in the state of Kentucky. Despite ranking 37th in size by area, Kentucky has 120 counties; depending on definitions, this is either third or fourth among US states. Texas has 254 counties and Georgia 159; Virginia has only 95 counties, but also has 38 independent cities that are not part of any county and deal directly with the state government, giving that state 133 county-level administrative units. 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, as well as being able to travel from one county seat to the next in the same fashion. 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 (1036 km²);
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 fewer than 12,000 people;
must not create a county boundary line that passes within 10 miles (16 kilometers) 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.

Because today's largest county by area, Pike County, is 788 square miles (2,041 km²), it is now impossible to create a new county from a single existing county under the current constitution. Any county to be created in this manner will necessarily reduce the land area of the old county to less than 400 square miles (1,000 km²). It is still possible to form a new county from portions of more than one existing county; McCreary County was formed in this manner.