Benton County is a

county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes Chambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

located in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...

. As of the 2010 census, the population was 8,729. Its

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The equivalent term shire town is used in the US st ...

is Ashland. It is locally believed that residents convinced the post-

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

Reconstruction Reconstruction may refer to: Politics, history, and sociology *Reconstruction (law), the transfer of a company's (or several companies') business to a new company *'' Perestroika'' (Russian for "reconstruction"), a late 20th century Soviet Unio ...

government that Benton County was named after U.S. Senator Thomas Hart Benton, but the name actually honored Confederate Brigadier General

Samuel Benton Samuel Benton (1820–1864) was an American attorney, newspaper publisher and politician. He served as a colonel in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. He was promoted to brigadier general but died two days later before t ...

of nearby Holly Springs in Marshall County, nephew of the senator. Benton County is included in the Memphis, TN-MS-AR Metropolitan Statistical Area.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (0.5%) is water. It is the fifth-smallest county by area in Mississippi. The headwaters of the Wolf River

meander A meander is one of a series of regular sinuous curves in the channel of a river or other watercourse. It is produced as a watercourse erodes the sediments of an outer, concave bank ( cut bank) and deposits sediments on an inner, convex ba ...

and braid their way north and west across northern Benton County from Baker's Pond, the river's

source Source may refer to: Research * Historical document * Historical source * Source (intelligence) or sub source, typically a confidential provider of non open-source intelligence * Source (journalism), a person, publication, publishing institute o ...

spring (highest origin of continuous flow) in the

Holly Springs National Forest The Holly Springs National Forest (HSNF) was established by the United States Forest Service on June 15, 1936, during the tenure of United States Department of Agriculture Chief Forester Ferdinand A. Silcox. That same year, it was combined admini ...

approximately one mile southwest of where U.S. Highway 72 passes into

Tippah County, Mississippi Tippah County is a county located on the northern border of the U.S. state of Mississippi. As of the 2010 census, the population was 22,232. Its county seat is Ripley. The name ''"Tippah"'' is derived from a Chickasaw language word meaning "cu ...

. The Wolf River passes into

Fayette County, Tennessee Fayette County is a county located in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 census, the population was 41,990. Its county seat is Somerville. The county was named after the Marquis de la Fayette, French hero of the American Revolution. ...

between Michigan City (on the Mississippi side) and La Grange, Tennessee.

Major highways

Interstate 22 Interstate 22 (I-22) is a Interstate Highway in the US states of Mississippi and Alabama, connecting I-269 near Byhalia, Mississippi, to I-65 near Birmingham, Alabama. I-22 is also Corridor X of the Appalachian Development Highway System. ...

* U.S. Route 72 * U.S. Route 78 *

Mississippi Highway 2 Mississippi Highway 2 (MS 2) is a designation for two highways in northern Mississippi. The westernmost segment starts at MS 5 in Hickory Flat, and ends at MS 15 and MS 368 in Blue Mountain. The eastern segment starts at MS 4 near Ripley an ...

Mississippi Highway 4 Mississippi Highway 4 (MS 4) runs east–west from an intersection in the community of Fox Island west of Tunica, Mississippi, near the border with Arkansas, to MS 25 in Tishomingo County, Mississippi. It travels a distance of , serving Tun ...

Mississippi Highway 5 Mississippi Highway 5 (MS 5) is a state highway in Benton County, Mississippi, United States. It runs from MS 178 in Hickory Flat north to U.S. Route 72 (US 72) to the south of Michigan City. The route runs through the Holly Springs Nation ...

Mississippi Highway 7 Mississippi Highway 7 (MS 7) runs generally north–south from the Tennessee state line in Benton County to Belzoni, Mississippi. It travels approximately , serving Humphreys, Leflore, Carroll, Grenada, Yalobusha, Lafayette, Marshal ...

Mississippi Highway 178 Mississippi Highway 178 (MS 178), or simply "Old 78", is a east-west State highway (US), state highway across the northern portion of the state of Mississippi. It is the former alignment of U.S. Route 78 in Mississippi, U.S. Route 78 (US&nbs ...

* Mississippi Highway 370

Adjacent counties

Hardeman County, Tennessee Hardeman County is a county located in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 census, the population was 25,462. Its county seat is Bolivar. History Hardeman County was created by the Tennessee General Assembly in 1823 from parts of Ha ...

(northeast) * Tippah County (east) * Union County (south) * Marshall County (west) *

(northwest)

National protected area

(part)

Demographics

2020 census

As of the

2020 United States Census The United States census of 2020 was the twenty-fourth decennial United States census. Census Day, the reference day used for the census, was April 1, 2020. Other than a pilot study during the 2000 census, this was the first U.S. census to of ...

, there were 7,646 people, 3,149 households, and 2,082 families residing in the county.

2000 census

At the 2000

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses in ...

, there were 8,026 people, 2,999 households and 2,216 families residing in the county. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: Stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geographical ...

was 20 per square mile (8/km²). There were 3,456 housing units at an average density of 8 per square mile (3/km²). The racial makeup of the county was 57.12% White (non-Hispanic), 39.76%

Black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white ...

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

, 0.59% Native American, 0.05% Asian, 0.01%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the Pacific Islands. As an ethnic/racial term, it is used to describe the original peoples—inhabitants and diasporas—of any of the three major subregions of O ...

, 0.29% from

other races Other often refers to: * Other (philosophy), a concept in psychology and philosophy Other or The Other may also refer to: Film and television * ''The Other'' (1913 film), a German silent film directed by Max Mack * ''The Other'' (1930 film), a ...

, and 0.59% from two or more races. 3.5% of the population were

Hispanic The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad. The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to viceroyalties forme ...

Latino Latino or Latinos most often refers to: * Latino (demonym), a term used in the United States for people with cultural ties to Latin America * Hispanic and Latino Americans in the United States * The people or cultures of Latin America; ** Latin A ...

of any race. There were 2,999 households, of which 33.40% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 54.20% were married couples living together, 14.80% had a female householder with no husband present, and 26.10% were non-families. 23.80% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.70% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.64 and the average family size was 3.12. Age distribution was 26.90% under the age of 18, 10.00% from 18 to 24, 25.80% from 25 to 44, 22.00% from 45 to 64, and 15.30% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females there were 94.60 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.80 males. The

median household income The median income is the income amount that divides a population into two equal groups, half having an income above that amount, and half having an income below that amount. It may differ from the mean (or average) income. Both of these are ways o ...

was $24,149, and the median family income was $29,907. Males had a median income of $26,291 versus $19,519 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or total income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. It is calculated by dividing the area's total income by its total population. Per capita i ...

for the county was $12,212. About 19.20% of families and 23.20% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for t ...

, including 28.00% of those under age 18 and 24.80% of those age 65 or over.

Communities

Towns

* Ashland (county seat) * Hickory Flat * Snow Lake Shores

Census-designated place

* Lamar

Unincorporated places

Canaan Canaan (; Phoenician: 𐤊𐤍𐤏𐤍 – ; he, כְּנַעַן – , in pausa – ; grc-bib, Χανααν – ;The current scholarly edition of the Greek Old Testament spells the word without any accents, cf. Septuaginta : id est Vetus T ...

* Hopewell * Michigan City * Winborn

Extinct town

* Salem

Education

Benton County School District operates public schools. From 1965 to the late 1980s, Benton County was also home to Gray's Academy, a private segregation school located in Ashland.

Notable people

* Norris C. Williamson, member of the Louisiana State Senate, 1916 to 1932; worked to eradicate cattle tick pest, born in Benton County in 1874 * Floyd Lee (1933–2020), was a blues musician who was a founding member of Music Under New York, and later a judge on their board. He was born in Lamar.

Politics

In presidential elections, Benton County was historically a '

Solid South The Solid South or Southern bloc was the electoral voting bloc of the states of the Southern United States for issues that were regarded as particularly important to the interests of Democrats in those states. The Southern bloc existed especial ...

' county for most of the 20th century, voting Republican only in the Nixon and Reagan landslides of 1972 and 1984, as well as for Goldwater in 1964. It also voted for third-party candidates Strom Thurmond in 1948 and George Wallace in 1968, instead of for the regular Democratic tickets. In the 21st century, it has trended Republican. In 2008, it was one of forty-four counties to switch from John Kerry to John McCain. It was the only one of these forty-four to flip back to Obama in 2012, in kind with a scattering of counties in or near the Black Belt, but Trump carried it in 2016 with 56%, the highest vote share the county had given any nominee since 1996. In 2020, Trump improved his vote share in the county by 3.9%, approaching 60% even as he lost nationally.

References

{{authority control Mississippi counties Counties of Appalachia 1870 establishments in Mississippi Populated places established in 1870