Perry 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 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 ...

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 ...

. As of the 2020 census, the population was 35,408.2020 census
/ref> 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 New Lexington. It was established on March 1, 1818, from parts of Fairfield, Washington and Muskingum counties. The county is named for Oliver Hazard Perry, a hero of the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 was fought by the United States and its allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom and its allies in North America. It began when the United States United States declaration of war on the Uni ...

. Perry County is included in the Columbus, OH Metropolitan Statistical Area. One of the poorest counties in the state, this is where the lawsuit challenging Ohio's school funding system, '' DeRolph v. State'', began.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (1.1%) is water.

Adjacent counties

* Licking County (north) * Muskingum County (northeast) * Morgan County (southeast) * Athens County (south) * Hocking County (southwest) * Fairfield County (west)

National protected area

Wayne National Forest The Wayne National Forest is located in the Appalachian part of the US state of Ohio, in the Unglaciated Allegheny Plateau. It is the first and only national forest in Ohio. Forest headquarters are located between The Plains and Nelsonville, ...

(part)

Demographics

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 34,078 people, 12,500 households, and 9,350 families living 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 13,655 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 98.54%

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 ...

, 0.22%

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 ...

, 0.28% Native American, 0.10% 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 ...

, 0.09% from other races, and 0.76% from two or more races. 0.45% 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 12,500 households, out of which 36.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 60.1% 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, 9.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 25.2% were non-families. 21.4% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.70 and the average family size was 3.13. In the county, the population was spread out, with 28.1% under the age of 18, 8.5% from 18 to 24, 29.1% from 25 to 44, 22.3% from 45 to 64, and 12.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35 years. For every 100 females there were 98.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 95.4 males. The median income for a household in the county was $34,383, and the median income for a family was $40,294. Males had a median income of $31,664 versus $21,147 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 $15,674. About 9.4% of families and 11.8% 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 15.2% of those under age 18 and 12.70% of those age 65 or over.

2010 census

As of the 2010 United States Census, there were 36,058 people, 13,576 households, and 9,738 families living in the county. The population density was . There were 15,211 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 97.9% white, 0.3% black or African American, 0.2% American Indian, 0.1% Asian, 0.1% from other races, and 1.4% from two or more races. Those of Hispanic or Latino origin made up 0.5% of the population. In terms of ancestry, 25.4% were German, 14.9% were Irish, 10.4% were English, and 9.6% were American. Of the 13,576 households, 35.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 54.3% were married couples living together, 11.6% had a female householder with no husband present, 28.3% were non-families, and 22.8% of all households were made up of individuals. The average household size was 2.63 and the average family size was 3.06. The median age was 38.6 years. The median income for a household in the county was $42,388 and the median income for a family was $50,489. Males had a median income of $39,305 versus $31,112 for females. The per capita income for the county was $18,916. About 14.2% of families and 18.5% of the population were below the

, including 26.4% of those under age 18 and 8.6% of those age 65 or over.

Politics

Perry County tended to be a swing county prior to 2016.

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, ...

was the last Democrat to win this county, a distinction shared with 16 other Ohio counties, in 1996. In 2020,

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 ...

won the largest percentage of votes in the county of any Republican nominee since the party's founding, a feat surpassed by more than two percentage points in 2024.

Communities

Villages

* Corning * Crooksville * Glenford * Hemlock * Junction City * New Lexington (county seat) * New Straitsville * Rendville * Roseville (partial) *

Shawnee The Shawnee ( ) are a Native American people of the Northeastern Woodlands. Their language, Shawnee, is an Algonquian language. Their precontact homeland was likely centered in southern Ohio. In the 17th century, they dispersed through Ohi ...

Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...

(former county seat) * Thornville

Townships

* Bearfield * Clayton *

Coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other Chemical element, elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal i ...

* Harrison * Hopewell * Jackson * Madison * Monday Creek * Monroe * Pike * Pleasant *

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of symbols, often specifically those of a written language, by means of Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifacete ...

* Salt Lick * Thorn

Census-designated places

* Rose Farm * Thornport

Unincorporated communities

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

Buckingham Buckingham ( ) is a market town in north Buckinghamshire, England, close to the borders of Northamptonshire and Oxfordshire, which had a population of 12,890 at the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 Census. The town lies approximately west of ...

* Chalfants * Chapel Hill * Clarksville * Crossenville * McCuneville * McLuney * Millertown * Milligan * Mount Perry * Moxahala * New Reading * Oakfield * Portersville, Ohio * Rehoboth *

Saltillo Saltillo () is the capital and largest city of the northeastern Mexican state of Coahuila and is also the municipal seat of the municipality of the same name. Mexico City, Monterrey, and Saltillo are all connected by a major railroad and high ...

* Sego * Sulphur Springs

Ghost towns

* Dicksonton * San Toy

External links

Perry County Official Website

Perry County Chamber of Commerce