Carroll County is a

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

located in the northern part 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 so ...

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

. Its

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

is Carrollton. The county was formed in 1838 and named for

Charles Carroll of Carrollton Charles Carroll (September 19, 1737 – November 14, 1832), known as Charles Carroll of Carrollton or Charles Carroll III, was an American politician, planter, and signatory of the Declaration of Independence. He was the only Catholic signatory ...

, the last living signer of the

Declaration of Independence A declaration of independence is an assertion by a polity in a defined territory that it is independent and constitutes a state. Such places are usually declared from part or all of the territory of another state or failed state, or are breaka ...

. It is located at the

confluence In geography, a confluence (also ''conflux'') occurs where two or more watercourses join to form a single channel (geography), channel. A confluence can occur in several configurations: at the point where a tributary joins a larger river (main ...

of the

and

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

Rivers.

Geography

According to the

U.S. Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, 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. The U.S. Census Bureau is part of the U ...

, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (6.4%) is water. It is the third-smallest county by area in Kentucky.

Adjacent counties

* Jefferson County, Indiana (north) *

Switzerland County, Indiana Switzerland County is a county in the southeast corner of the U.S. state of Indiana. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 9,737. The county seat is Vevay, one of two incorporated towns in the county. History In 1787, the f ...

(northwest) * Gallatin County (east) * Owen County (southeast) * Henry County (south) * Trimble County (west)

Demographics

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2000, there were 10,155 people, 3,940 households, and 2,722 families residing in the county. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing 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 geog ...

was . There were 4,439 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 95.16%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 1.94%

Black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 0.23% Native American, 0.17% Asian, 0.05%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

, 1.42% from other races, and 1.04% from two or more races. 3.25% of the population were

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race. There were 3,940 households, out of which 33.10% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 52.40% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

living together, 11.70% had a female householder with no husband present, and 30.90% were non-families. 25.30% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10.10% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.51 and the average family size was 2.98. In the county, the population was spread out, with 25.30% under the age of 18, 9.10% from 18 to 24, 29.90% from 25 to 44, 23.20% from 45 to 64, and 12.50% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females there were 101.20 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 99.00 males. The median income for a household in the county was $35,925, and the median income for a family was $44,037. Males had a median income of $33,588 versus $20,974 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the county was $17,057. About 10.40% of families and 14.90% 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 19.80% of those under age 18 and 21.60% of those age 65 or over

Communities

Cities

* Carrollton (county seat) *

Ghent Ghent ( ; ; historically known as ''Gaunt'' in English) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the Provinces of Belgium, province ...

* Prestonville * Sanders * Worthville

Unincorporated community

* English

Law enforcement

In 2023, Carroll County Sheriff's Office hired Myles Cosgrove, a police officer who killed Breonna Taylor in 2020 and was subsequently fired by the

Louisville Metro Police Department The Louisville Metro Police Department (LMPD) began operations on January 6, 2003, as part of the creation of the consolidated city-county government in Louisville, Kentucky, United States. It was formed by the merger of the Jefferson County P ...

. The Sheriff's Office said it performed a background check on Cosgrove which he passed.

Politics

Carroll County was strongly pro- Confederate during the Civil War: only 2.70 percent of its white population volunteered to serve in the Union Army, which constitutes the fourteenth-lowest of 109 counties extant as of the 1860 election, and was indeed lower than for the whole of seceded Tennessee. Consequently, Carroll County remained overwhelmingly Democratic for the next century and a quarter, being the only Kentucky county outside the heavily unionized coalfields to vote for

George McGovern George Stanley McGovern (July 19, 1922 – October 21, 2012) was an American politician, diplomat, and historian who was a U.S. representative and three-term U.S. senator from South Dakota, and the Democratic Party (United States), Democ ...

in 1972. The first Republican to carry Carroll County was

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He was a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party a ...

in 1984, and the growing social liberalism of the Democratic Party has meant the county has voted increasingly Republican since the turn of the century, although

Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, lawyer and diplomat. She was the 67th United States secretary of state in the administration of Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, a U.S. senator represent ...

's 28.69 percent – even if over fifteen percent worse than any previous Democrat – was still as good as she received in any rural white southern county. In gubernatorial elections, Carroll remained solidly Democratic for a long time, with no Republican gubernatorial candidate ever carrying the county until

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

, when it voted for

Matt Bevin Matthew Griswold Bevin (; born January 9, 1967) is an American businessman and politician. A member of the Republican Party, he served as the 62nd governor of Kentucky from 2015 to 2019. He is currently the CEO of Neuronetrix Solutions, LLC. Bo ...

. The county voted "No" on 2022 Kentucky Amendment 2, an anti-abortion ballot measure, by 54% to 46%, and backed

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

with 71% of the vote to

Joe Biden Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. (born November 20, 1942) is an American politician who was the 46th president of the United States from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served as the 47th vice p ...

's 27% in the 2020 presidential election.

Elected officials

References

External links

Carroll County Chamber of Commerce website

Carroll County Government Site
{{authority control 1838 establishments in Kentucky Populated places established in 1838 Kentucky counties Kentucky counties on the Ohio River