Madison 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 western 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 ...

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

. As of the 2020 census, the population was 98,823. 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 Jackson. Madison County is included in the Jackson metropolitan area.

History

Madison County was formed in 1821, and named for founding father and president,

James Madison James Madison (June 28, 1836) was an American statesman, diplomat, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the fourth president of the United States from 1809 to 1817. Madison was popularly acclaimed as the ...

. The county was part of lands the United States purchased from the

Chickasaw The Chickasaw ( ) are an Indigenous people of the Southeastern Woodlands, United States. Their traditional territory was in northern Mississippi, northwestern and northern Alabama, western Tennessee and southwestern Kentucky. Their language is ...

in 1818.Harbert Alexander
"Madison County"
''Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture''; retrieved October 22, 2013. After Congressional passage of the

Indian Removal Act The Indian Removal Act of 1830 was signed into law on May 28, 1830, by United States president Andrew Jackson. The law, as described by Congress, provided "for an exchange of lands with the Indians residing in any of the states or territories, ...

of 1830, most Chickasaw were forced out of the state and west to Indian Territory beyond the Mississippi River. Pinson Mounds, one of the largest

Woodland period In the classification of :category:Archaeological cultures of North America, archaeological cultures of North America, the Woodland period of North American pre-Columbian cultures spanned a period from roughly 1000 BC to European contact i ...

(c. 1-500CE) mound complexes in the United States, is located in Madison County. It has the second-tallest earthwork mound in the United States.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (0.3%) is water.

Airport

McKellar-Sipes Regional Airport, renamed Jackson Regional Airport in 2025, ("MKL") serves the county and the surrounding communities. Lake Graham, a large 500 acre reservoir primarily intended for recreation and wildlife habitat, is located in the county 5 miles east of Jackson.

Adjacent counties

* Gibson County (north) * Carroll County (northeast) * Henderson County (east) * Chester County (southeast) * Hardeman County (south) * Haywood County (west) *

Crockett County Crockett County is the name of two counties in the United States, both named for frontiersman and politician Davy Crockett Colonel (United States), Colonel David Crockett (August 17, 1786 – March 6, 1836) was an American politician, militia ...

(northwest)

State protected areas

* Pinson Mounds State Archaeological Park * Middle Fork Bottoms State Park *South Fork Waterfowl Refuge * Lake Graham

Highways

* US-45 * US-412 * US-70 * I-40

Demographics

2020 census

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 98,823 people, 38,930 households, and 25,748 families residing in the county.

2000 census

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 91,837 people, 35,552 households, and 24,637 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 38,205 housing units at an average density of . There were 35,552 households, out of which 33.50% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 49.80% 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 ...

non-Hispanic White Non-Hispanic Whites, also referred to as White Anglo Americans or Non-Latino Whites, are White Americans who are classified by the United States census as "White" and not of Hispanic or Latino origin. According to annual estimates from the Unit ...

European American European Americans are Americans of European ancestry. This term includes both people who descend from the first European settlers in the area of the present-day United States and people who descend from more recent European arrivals. Since th ...

, 32.46% non-Hispanic Black or

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 ...

, 0.16% Native American, 0.63% Asian, 0.01%

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 ...

, 0.67% from other races, and 0.86% from two or more races. 1.71% 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 35,552 households, out of which 33.50% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 49.80% were

living together, 15.90% had a female householder with no husband present, and 30.70% were non-families. 26.20% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9.30% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.49 and the average family size was 3.00. In the county, the population was spread out, with 25.80% under the age of 18, 11.00% from 18 to 24, 29.10% from 25 to 44, 21.70% from 45 to 64, and 12.30% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35 years. For every 100 females, there were 92.10 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 87.20 males. The median income for a household in the county was $36,982, and the median income for a family was $44,595. Males had a median income of $34,253 versus $23,729 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 $19,389. About 10.80% of families and 14.00% 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 18.40% of those under age 18 and 11.80% of those age 65 or over.

Government and politics

The county is headed by an elected county mayor (currently A.J. Massey) and county commission of 25 members elected from 10 districts. Madison County was a Democratic-leaning county for the first half of the 20th century, continuing the trend until it flipped towards the Republicans in 1960. The last Democrat to carry the county was

Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (October 1, 1924December 29, 2024) was an American politician and humanitarian who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party ...

in 1976.

Healthcare

West Tennessee Healthcare (Jackson-Madison County General Hospital District), created by a law passed by the

Tennessee General Assembly The Tennessee General Assembly (TNGA) is the state legislature (United States), state legislature of the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is a part-time bicameral legislature consisting of a Tennessee Senate, Senate and a Tennessee House of Representa ...

in 1949, serves as the public hospital system of the county. The county appoints some of the members of the board of trustees.

Media

This is the Madison County to which

Kenny Rogers Kenneth Ray Rogers (born Kenneth Donald Rogers) (August 21, 1938 – March 20, 2020) was an American singer and songwriter. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, Country Music Hall of Fame in 2013. Rogers was particul ...

refers in his song "Reuben James".

Communities

Cities

* Humboldt (mostly in Gibson County, Tennessee) * Jackson (county seat and largest city) * Medon (partially in Hardeman County, Tennessee) * Three Way

Census-Designated Places

* Beech Bluff * Mercer (partly in Haywood County, Tennessee) * Pinson

Unincorporated communities

* Adair * Beech Bluff * Claybrook *

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

* Five Points * Huntersville * Leighton * Neely * Oakfield * Pinson *

Spring Creek A spring creek is a type of free flowing river whose name derives from its origin: an underground Spring (hydrology), spring or set of springs which produces sufficient water to consistently feed a unique river. The water flowing in a spring cree ...

Education

Jackson-Madison County School System is the public school district.
Text list
/ref> Lane College is a private historically Black college associated with the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church. Union University is a private school affiliated with the Tennessee Baptist Convention. West Tennessee School for the Deaf is a state-operated school in the county.

References

External links

Madison County official website

Madison County, TNGenWeb
– free genealogy resources for the county {{Coord, 35.61, -88.84, display=title, type:adm2nd_region:US-TN_source:UScensus1990 1821 establishments in Tennessee Populated places established in 1821 Jackson metropolitan area, Tennessee Second Amendment sanctuaries in Tennessee West Tennessee