Keith 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 ...

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 so ...

Nebraska Nebraska ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Ka ...

. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 8,335. 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 Ogallala. In the Nebraska license plate system, Keith County is represented by the prefix 68 (it had the sixty-eighth-largest number of vehicles registered in the county when the license plate system was established in 1922).

History

Keith County was formed in 1873. Sources differ on the Keith after whom it was named: either M. C. Keith of North Platte, whose grandson Keith Neville became Nebraska's 18th governor in 1917; or John Keith, also of North Platte.

Geography

The terrain of Keith County consists of low rolling hills. The level areas are used for agriculture, mainly in the lower part of the county. The

North Platte River The North Platte River is a major tributary of the Platte River and is approximately long, counting its many curves.U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed March 21, 2011 I ...

flows eastward into the northwest end of the county, feeding Lake McConaughy, then exiting the county's east line near its midpoint. The

South Platte River The South Platte River is one of the two principal tributaries of the Platte River. Flowing through the U.S. states of Colorado and Nebraska, it is itself a major river of the American Midwestern United States, Midwest and the American Sou ...

flows eastward into the southwest end of the county, and crosses the lower central part of the county before exiting to the east, headed for its junction with the North Platte River well to the east of Keith County. The county has an area of , of which is land and (4.3%) is water. Most of Nebraska's 93 counties (the eastern 2/3) observe Central Time; the western counties observe Mountain Time. Keith County is the easternmost of the Nebraska counties to observe Mountain Time.

Major highways

Interstate 80 Interstate 80 (I-80) is an east–west transcontinental freeway that crosses the United States from San Francisco, California, to Teaneck, New Jersey, in the New York metropolitan area. The highway was designated in 1956 as one of the ori ...

U.S. Highway 26 * US 30

U.S. Highway 30 * N-61

Nebraska Highway 61 * N-92

Nebraska Highway 92

Transit

* Burlington Trailways *

Express Arrow Express, The Expresss or EXPRESS may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Film * '' Express: Aisle to Glory'', a 1998 comedy short film featuring Kal Penn * '' The Express: The Ernie Davis Story'', a 2008 film starring Dennis Quaid * The Ex ...

* Ogallala Public Transit

Adjacent counties

* Arthur County – north * McPherson County – northeast (boundary of Central Time) * Lincoln County – east (boundary of Central Time) * Perkins County – south * Deuel County – west * Garden County – northwest

Protected areas

* Clear Creek State Waterfowl Management Area (partial) * Lake McConaughy State Recreation Area

Demographics

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 8,327 people and 3,781 households. 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 . The racial makeup of the county was 95.6%

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 ...

, 1.1%

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 ...

, 1.0% Native American, 0.7% Asian, and 1.6% from two or more races. 8.0% 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. The median income for a household in the county was $59,511 and 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 $34,905. 11.4% 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 ...

. 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 8,875 people, 3,707 households, and 2,535 families residing in the county. The

was . There were 5,178 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 96.75%

, 0.08%

, 0.71% Native American, 0.17% Asian, 1.49% from other races, and 0.80% from two or more races. 4.23% of the population were

or Latino of any race. There were 3,707 households, out of which 30.20% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 58.60% 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, 7.00% had a female householder with no husband present, and 31.60% were non-families. 27.90% of all households were made up of individuals, and 13.50% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.37 and the average family size was 2.89. In the county, the population was spread out, with 25.30% under the age of 18, 5.70% from 18 to 24, 25.30% from 25 to 44, 25.40% from 45 to 64, and 18.40% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 41 years. For every 100 females there were 96.50 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 92.80 males. The median income for a household in the county was $32,325, and the median income for a family was $39,118. Males had a median income of $26,523 versus $19,024 for females. The

for the county was $17,421. About 6.60% of families and 9.30% of the population were below the

, including 13.10% of those under age 18 and 8.20% of those age 65 or over.

Communities

City

* Ogallala (county seat)

Villages

* Brule * Paxton

Census-designated places

* Belmar * Keystone * Lemoyne *

Martin Martin may refer to: Places Antarctica * Martin Peninsula, Marie Byrd Land * Port Martin, Adelie Land * Point Martin, South Orkney Islands Europe * Martin, Croatia, a village * Martin, Slovakia, a city * Martín del Río, Aragón, Spain * M ...

* Roscoe * Sarben

Unincorporated communities

* Nevens * Ruthton

Former communities

Alkali In chemistry, an alkali (; from the Arabic word , ) is a basic salt of an alkali metal or an alkaline earth metal. An alkali can also be defined as a base that dissolves in water. A solution of a soluble base has a pH greater than 7.0. The a ...

* Bertha * Conditville * Eckeryvill * Korty * Megeath''Megeath, Brule NE'' Google Maps (accessed 23 January 2019)
/ref> * Oren * Pickard * Plano