Lamar 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 U.S. state of

Mississippi Mississippi ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Alabama to the east, the Gulf of Mexico to the south, Louisiana to the s ...

. As of the 2020 census, the population was 64,222. 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 Purvis. Named for Confederate Lucius Quintus Cincinnatus Lamar, the county was carved out of Marion County to the west in 1904. Lamar County is part of the

Hattiesburg metropolitan area The Hattiesburg Metropolitan Statistical Area is a metropolitan statistical area (MSA) in southeastern Mississippi that covers three counties - Forrest, Lamar, and Perry. The MSA's principal city is Hattiesburg. The 2010 census placed the Hatt ...

. It is largely a rural county, except for its northeast quarter.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (0.7%) is water.

Major highways

Interstate 59 Interstate 59 (I-59) is an Interstate Highway located in the southeastern United States. It is a north–south route that spans from a junction with I-10 and I-12 at Slidell, Louisiana, to a junction with I-24 near Wildwood, Georgia ...

* U.S. Highway 11 * U.S. Highway 98 * Mississippi Highway 13 * Mississippi Highway 42 * Mississippi Highway 44

Adjacent counties

* Covington County (north) * Forrest County (east) * Pearl River County (south) * Marion County (west) * Jefferson Davis County (northwest)

Demographics

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 64,222 people, 22,116 households, and 15,584 families residing in the county.

Politics

Lamar County, historically, is one of the most conservative counties in Mississippi. The county has voted for Republican presidential candidates with 60 percent or more of the vote in the past twelve elections.