Webster 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

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 ...

. As of the 2020 census, the population was 13,017. 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 Dixon and its largest city is Providence. It is the southernmost county in the Evansville, IN–KY Combined Statistical Area. The county was formed in 1860 from parts of Henderson, Hopkins, and Union Counties and named for American statesman Daniel Webster (1782–1852). It was mainly pro- Confederate during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

and was the site of several skirmishes and some

guerrilla Guerrilla warfare is a form of unconventional warfare in which small groups of irregular military, such as rebels, Partisan (military), partisans, paramilitary personnel or armed civilians, which may include Children in the military, recruite ...

warfare. Since 2018 it has been a moist county, with Providence and Sebree voting to allow alcohol sales, and Clay doing so in 2022.

Geography

According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (1.1%) is water. Webster County is part of the Western Coal Field region of

Adjacent counties

* Henderson County (north) * McLean County (northeast) * Hopkins County (southeast) * Caldwell County (south) * Crittenden County (southwest) * Union County (northwest)

Demographics

2010 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 2010, 5,272 households, and 3,716 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 5,936 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 91.4%

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 ...

, 4.1%

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 ...

, 0.2% Native American, 0.3% Asian, 0.3%

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 ...

, 2.3% from other races, and 1.4% from two or more races. 4.3% 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 5,272 households, out of which 27.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 55% were married couples living together, 10.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 29.5% were non-families. 25.4% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.6% 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 25.9% under the age of 19, 5.8% from 20 to 24, 25% from 25 to 44, 28.2% from 45 to 64, and 15.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40.1 years. 49.7% of the population is male and 50.3% female. The median income for a household in the county was $39,635, and the median income for a family was $49,580. Males employed full-time had a median income of $41,662 versus $26,502 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 $18,879. About 11.9% of families and 16% 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 21.9% of those under age 18 and 11.6% of those age 65 or over.

Politics

Elected officials

Communities

Cities

Clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolinite, ). Most pure clay minerals are white or light-coloured, but natural clays show a variety of colours from impuriti ...

* Dixon (county seat) * Providence * Sebree * Slaughters * Wheatcroft

Census-designated places

* Onton * Poole (partially in Henderson County)

Other unincorporated communities

* Blackford *

Derby Derby ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area on the River Derwent, Derbyshire, River Derwent in Derbyshire, England. Derbyshire is named after Derby, which was its original co ...

Diamond Diamond is a Allotropes of carbon, solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Diamond is tasteless, odourless, strong, brittle solid, colourless in pure form, a poor conductor of e ...

* Elmwood * Fairmont * Free Union * Hearin * Jolly * Lisman * Little Zion * Ortiz * Pratt * Stanhope * Tilden * Vanderburg * Wanamaker

Notable residents

* Robert A. Baker, psychologist, author, influential skeptic, and Past Fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry * William O. Head, mayor of

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville is the List of cities in Kentucky, most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeastern United States, Southeast, and the list of United States cities by population, 27th-most-populous city ...

from 1909 to 1913 * Kristen Johnson, Miss Kentucky USA 2005, 2nd runner-up Miss USA 2005, Miss Kentucky Teen USA 2000 * Chris Knight, musician/songwriter. * Cale Young Rice, American

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

and dramatist. * Laban Lacy Rice, educator, author, and President of Cumberland University * Garrett L. Withers, represented

in both the

United States Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...

and the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...

* Amy Slaton-Halterman, reality TV star * Tammy Slaton, reality TV star

References

{{Coord, 37.52, -87.68, display=title, type:adm2nd_region:US-KY_source:UScensus1990 Kentucky counties 1860 establishments in Kentucky Evansville metropolitan area Populated places established in 1860