Licking 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 central portion of 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 ...

Ohio Ohio () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Of the List of states and territories of the United States, fifty U.S. states, it is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 34th-l ...

. At the 2020 census, the population was 178,519. 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 ...

is Newark. The county was formed on January 30, 1808, from portions of

Fairfield County Fairfield County is the name of three counties in the United States: * Fairfield County, Connecticut * Fairfield County, Ohio * Fairfield County, South Carolina Fairfield County is a county located in the U.S. state of South Carolina. As of ...

. It is named after the Licking River, which is thought to be named for the

salt lick A mineral lick (also known as a salt lick) is a place where animals can go to lick essential mineral nutrients from a deposit of salts and other minerals. Mineral licks can be naturally occurring or artificial (such as blocks of salt that farm ...

s that were in the area. However, one account explains it as an English pronunciation of the river's indigenous

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacen ...

name ''W'li/'ik'/nk'', which means "where the flood waters recede". Licking County is part of the Columbus, OH Metropolitan Statistical Area.

Geography

According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy An economy is an area of th ...

, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (0.7%) is water. It is the third-largest county in Ohio by land area.

Adjacent counties

* Knox County (north) *

Coshocton County Coshocton County is a county located in the U.S. state of Ohio. As of the 2020 census, the population was 36,612. Its county seat is Coshocton. The county lies within the Appalachian region of the state. The county was formed on January 31, 18 ...

(northeast) * Muskingum County (east) * Perry County (southeast) *

(southwest) * Franklin County (west) * Delaware County (northwest)

Major highways

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Demographics

2000 census

As of the

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 ...

of 2000, there were 146,491 people, 55,609 households, and 40,149 families living in the county. The population density was 212 people per square mile (82/km²). There were 58,760 housing units at an average density of 86 per square mile (33/km²). The

racial makeup A race is a categorization of humans based on shared physical or social qualities into groups generally viewed as distinct within a given society. The term came into common usage during the 1500s, when it was used to refer to groups of variou ...

of the county was 95.64% White, 2.06% Black or African American, 0.30% Native American, 0.58% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 0.30% from other races, and 1.10% from two or more races. 0.76% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. Of the 55,609 households 34.40% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 58.50% were married couples living together, 10.00% had a female householder with no husband present, and 27.80% were non-families. 23.10% of households were one person and 9.10% were one person aged 65 or older. The average household size was 2.56 and the average family size was 3.01. The age distribution was 26.00% under the age of 18, 8.80% from 18 to 24, 29.40% from 25 to 44, 23.90% from 45 to 64, and 11.90% 65 or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females there were 94.80 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 92.00 males. The median household income was $44,124 and the median family income was $51,969. Males had a median income of $37,957 versus $26,884 for females. The per capita income for the county was $20,581. About 5.50% of families and 7.50% 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 ...

, including 9.10% of those under age 18 and 7.50% of those age 65 or over.

2010 census

As of the

of 2010, there were 166,492 people, 63,989 households, and 45,162 families living in the county. The population density was . There were 69,291 housing units at an average density of . The

of the county was 93.2% white, 3.4% black or African American, 0.7% Asian, 0.3% American Indian, 0.4% from other races, and 1.9% from two or more races. Those of Hispanic or Latino origin made up 1.4% of the population. In terms of ancestry, 29.5% were

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

, 16.0% were

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

, 13.0% were

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national id ...

, 10.8% were American, and 5.5% were

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

. Of the 63,989 households, 34.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 54.5% were married couples living together, 11.2% had a female householder with no husband present, 29.4% were non-families, and 23.8% of households were made up of individuals. The average household size was 2.55 and the average family size was 3.00. The median age was 39.1 years. The median household income was $53,291 and the median family income was $64,386. Males had a median income of $47,391 versus $37,054 for females. The per capita income for the county was $25,534. About 8.2% of families and 11.1% of the population were below the

, including 15.7% of those under age 18 and 6.5% of those age 65 or over.

Politics

Prior to 1944, Licking County primarily supported Democratic Party candidates in presidential elections, only voting for Republican candidates five times from 1856 to 1940 in five national landslides for the party. From 1944 on, the county has become a Republican stronghold presidentially, with the only Democratic presidential candidate to win the county since then being

Lyndon B. Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), often referred to by his initials LBJ, was an American politician who served as the 36th president of the United States from 1963 to 1969. He had previously served as the 37th vice ...

in the midst of his 1964 national landslide.

Industry and business

In January 2022

Intel Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California, Santa Clara, California. It is the world's largest semiconductor chip manufacturer by revenue, and is one of the devel ...

announced their intention to build a $20 billion dollar semiconductor plant in Licking County that would employ up to 3,000 workers. The facility will be built on 3,190 acres site that have been annexed from Jersey township to New Albany.

Places of interest

Newark Earthworks The Newark Earthworks in Newark and Heath, Ohio, consist of three sections of preserved earthworks: the Great Circle Earthworks, the Octagon Earthworks, and the Wright Earthworks. This complex, built by the Hopewell culture between 100 BCE and ...

Blackhand Gorge State Nature Preserve The Blackhand Gorge State Nature Preserve is a sandstone formation through which the Licking River flows in Licking County, Ohio, United States. Located east of Newark near the tiny town of Toboso, along the gorge were designated an Ohio N ...

Flint Ridge State Memorial Flint Ridge Ancient Quarries and Nature Preserve is a Native American flint quarry located in Hopewell Township, Licking County, Ohio, about three miles north of Brownsville at the intersection of Brownsville Road and Flint Ridge Road. Old q ...

Dawes Arboretum The Dawes Arboretum is a nonprofit arboretum located in Newark, Ohio. It includes nearly of plant collections, gardens and natural areas. The site includes approximately 12 miles (19 km) of hiking trails and roadways for a four-mile (6&nbs ...

* Ye Olde Mill in Utica, where Velvet ice cream is produced. * Heisey Glass Museum *

Longaberger The Longaberger Company is an American manufacturer and distributor of handcrafted maple wood baskets and other home and lifestyle products. The company opened in 1973, was acquired in 2013 by CVSL, Inc., and closed in 2018. The following year, ...

former basket facility (Main office building was a 7-story replica basket, the largest in the world) *

National Trail Raceway National Trail Raceway is a quarter-mile dragstrip located between Hebron and Kirkersville, Ohio, USA, off of U.S. Route 40. The race track is located about 30 minutes east of Columbus, Ohio. It is known to local residents as 'National Trails'. ...

- NHRA Dragstrip *

Denison University Denison University is a private liberal arts college in Granville, Ohio. One of the earliest colleges established in the former Northwest Territory, Denison University was founded in 1831. The college was first called the Granville Literary a ...

Home Building Association Bank The Home Building Association Bank (or Home Building Association Company) is a historic building located at 1 North Third Street in Newark, Ohio, United States, and was designed by noted Chicago architect Louis Sullivan. It is one of eight bank ...

Sports

Licking County high school athletic programs include Granville High School, Heath High School, Johnstown-Monroe High School, Lakewood High School,

Licking Valley High School Licking Valley High School is a public high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secon ...

, Licking Heights High School,

Newark Catholic High School Newark Catholic High School is a private, Catholic co-educational high school located in Newark, Ohio in Licking County. It is operated by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Columbus. Clubs and activities The school's Latin Club functions as a local ...

, Newark High School, Northridge High School, Utica High School, and Watkins Memorial High School. In baseball, a state title has been won by a Licking County high school team every year since to 2002, when three Licking County teams won state titles. Newark Catholic High School and Heath High School have combined for nine state titles in a six-year span. Licking County schools won at least one state title in four straight sport seasons: Heath in both baseball and boys track and field (2007), Newark Catholic in football (2007), Newark in boys basketball (2008) and Lakewood in softball (2008).

Communities

Cities

Heath A heath () is a shrubland habitat found mainly on free-draining infertile, acidic soils and characterised by open, low-growing woody vegetation. Moorland is generally related to high-ground heaths with—especially in Great Britain—a cooler ...

* New Albany * Newark (county seat) * Pataskala *

Reynoldsburg Reynoldsburg is a city in Fairfield, Franklin, and Licking counties in the U.S. state of Ohio. It is a suburban community in the Columbus, Ohio metropolitan area. The population was 41,076 at the 2020 census. History Reynoldsburg was originally ...

* Johnstown

Villages

Alexandria Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandr ...

Buckeye Lake Buckeye Lake is a village in Fairfield and Licking counties in the U.S. state of Ohio. The population was 2,746 at the 2010 census. It is named for Buckeye Lake, a large lake along which the village is built. History On August 27, 2013, Buck ...

* Granville * Gratiot *

Hanover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...

Hartford Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since ...

Hebron Hebron ( ar, الخليل or ; he, חֶבְרוֹן ) is a State of Palestine, Palestinian. city in the southern West Bank, south of Jerusalem. Nestled in the Judaean Mountains, it lies Above mean sea level, above sea level. The second-lar ...

* Kirkersville * St. Louisville * Utica

Townships

Bennington Bennington is a town in Bennington County, Vermont, United States. It is one of two shire towns (county seats) of the county, the other being Manchester. As of the 2020 US Census, the population was 15,333. Bennington is the most populous to ...

Bowling Green A bowling green is a finely laid, close-mown and rolled stretch of turf for playing the game of bowls. Before 1830, when Edwin Beard Budding of Thrupp, near Stroud, UK, invented the lawnmower, lawns were often kept cropped by grazing sheep ...

Burlington Burlington may refer to: Places Canada Geography * Burlington, Newfoundland and Labrador * Burlington, Nova Scotia * Burlington, Ontario, the most populous city with the name "Burlington" * Burlington, Prince Edward Island * Burlington Bay, ...

Eden Eden may refer to: * Garden of Eden, the "garden of God" described in the Book of Genesis Places and jurisdictions Canada * Eden, Ontario * Eden High School Middle East * Eden, Lebanon, a city and former bishopric * Camp Eden, Iraq O ...

Etna Mount Etna is an active volcano on the east coast of Sicily. Etna or ETNA may also refer to: Places United States *Etna, California, a city * Etna, Georgia, a village *Etna, Illinois, an unincorporated community * Etna, Indiana, an unincorporate ...

* Fallsbury *

Franklin Franklin may refer to: People * Franklin (given name) * Franklin (surname) * Franklin (class), a member of a historical English social class Places Australia * Franklin, Tasmania, a township * Division of Franklin, federal electoral di ...

* Granville *

* Harrison *

Hopewell Hopewell may refer to: Places Barbados *Hopewell, Christ Church *Hopewell, Saint Thomas Canada * Hopewell Parish, New Brunswick * Hopewell Cape, New Brunswick * Hopewell Rocks, a tourist attraction new Hopewell Cape * Hopewell, Newfoundland an ...

Jersey Jersey ( , ; nrf, Jèrri, label=Jèrriais ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey (french: Bailliage de Jersey, links=no; Jèrriais: ), is an island country and self-governing Crown Dependencies, Crown Dependency near the coast of north-west F ...

Liberty Liberty is the ability to do as one pleases, or a right or immunity enjoyed by prescription or by grant (i.e. privilege). It is a synonym for the word freedom. In modern politics, liberty is understood as the state of being free within society fr ...

Licking Licking is the action (philosophy), action of passing the tongue over a surface, typically either to deposit saliva onto the surface, or to collect liquid, food or minerals onto the tongue for ingestion, or to animal communication, communicate ...

Madison Madison may refer to: People * Madison (name), a given name and a surname * James Madison (1751–1836), fourth president of the United States Place names * Madison, Wisconsin, the state capital of Wisconsin and the largest city known by this ...

* Mary Ann *

McKean McKean may refer to: Places * McKean, Pennsylvania * McKean County, Pennsylvania * McKean Island, island in the Phoenix Islands, Republic of Kiribati * McKean Township (disambiguation) Other uses * McKean (surname), people with the surname ''McK ...

Monroe Monroe or Monroes may refer to: People and fictional characters * Monroe (surname) * Monroe (given name) * James Monroe, 5th President of the United States Places United States * Monroe, Arkansas, an unincorporated community and census-designate ...

* Newark *

Newton Newton most commonly refers to: * Isaac Newton (1642–1726/1727), English scientist * Newton (unit), SI unit of force named after Isaac Newton Newton may also refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Newton'' (film), a 2017 Indian film * Newton ( ...

Perry Perry, also known as pear cider, is an alcoholic beverage made from fermented pears, traditionally the perry pear. It has been common for centuries in England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land ...

St. Albans St Albans () is a cathedral city in Hertfordshire, England, east of Hemel Hempstead and west of Hatfield, north-west of London, south-west of Welwyn Garden City and south-east of Luton. St Albans was the first major town on the old Roman ...

Union Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Un ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

Ohio Townships
/ref>

Census-designated places

* Beechwood Trails * Brownsville *

* Granville South * Harbor Hills * Marne

Unincorporated communities

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

Appleton Appleton may refer to: People *Appleton (surname) Places Australia * Appleton Dock Canada * Appleton, Newfoundland and Labrador * Appleton, Ontario United Kingdom * Appleton, a deserted medieval village site in the parish of Flitcham w ...

Ben Ben is frequently used as a shortened version of the given names Benjamin, Benedict, Bennett or Benson, and is also a given name in its own right. Ben (in he, בֶּן, ''son of'') forms part of Hebrew surnames, e.g. Abraham ben Abraham ( ...

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the capital city, state capital and List of municipalities in Massachusetts, most populous city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financ ...

* Chatham *

Columbia Center The Columbia Center, formerly named the Bank of America Tower and Columbia Seafirst Center, is a skyscraper in downtown Seattle, Washington, United States. The 76-story structure is the tallest building in Seattle and the state of Washington, r ...

* Fleatown * Fredonia *

Homer Homer (; grc, Ὅμηρος , ''Hómēros'') (born ) was a Greek poet who is credited as the author of the '' Iliad'' and the '' Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Homer is considered one of ...

* Jacksontown *

* Linnville * Lloyd Corners * Locust Grove *

Luray Luray may refer to: * Luray, Eure-et-Loir, a commune in the Eure-et-Loir ''département'', France * Luray, Indiana * Luray, Kansas * Luray, Missouri * Luray, Ohio * Luray, South Carolina Luray is a town in Hampton County, South Carolina, United ...

* New Way * Outville * Perryton * Rain Rock * Toboso *

Union Station A union station (also known as a union terminal, a joint station in Europe, and a joint-use station in Japan) is a railway station at which the tracks and facilities are shared by two or more separate railway companies, allowing passengers to ...

Wagram Deutsch-Wagram (literally "German Wagram", ), often shortened to Wagram, is a village in the Gänserndorf District, in the state of Lower Austria, Austria. It is in the Marchfeld Basin, close to the Vienna city limits, about 15 km (9 mi) northe ...

* Welsh Hills * Wilkins Run

References

External links

Licking County Government's website

Flint Ridge State Memorial
{{Coord, 40.09, -82.48, display=title, type:adm2nd_region:US-OH_source:UScensus1990 Populated places established in 1808 1808 establishments in Ohio