Jump to content

Jefferson County, Mississippi

Coordinates: 31°44′N 91°02′W / 31.73°N 91.03°W / 31.73; -91.03
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jefferson County, Mississippi
County
Historic Christ Church, Church Hill, Mississippi.
Historic Christ Church, Church Hill, Mississippi.
Map of Mississippi highlighting Jefferson County
Location within the U.S. state of Mississippi
Coordinates: 31°44′N 91°02′W / 31.73°N 91.03°W / 31.73; -91.03
Country United States
State Mississippi
Founded1799
Named afterThomas Jefferson
SeatFayette
Largest cityFayette
Area
 • Total
527 sq mi (1,360 km2)
 • Land520 sq mi (1,300 km2)
 • Water7.3 sq mi (19 km2)  1.4%
Population
 (2020)
 • Total
7,260
 • Estimate 
(2025)
6,825 Decrease
 • Density14/sq mi (5.4/km2)
Time zoneUTC−6 (Central)
 • Summer (DST)UTC−5 (CDT)
Congressional district2nd
Websitewww.jeffersoncountyms.com

Jefferson County is a county located in the U.S. state of Mississippi; its western border is formed by the Mississippi River. As of the 2020 census, the population was 7,260,[1] making it the fourth-least populous county in Mississippi. Until 1825, its first county seat was located at Old Greenville, which no longer exists,[2] before moving to Fayette.[3] The county is named for U.S. President Thomas Jefferson.[4] One of the first of two counties organized in the Mississippi Territory in 1798 along with Adams County, it was first named Pickering County and included what would become Claiborne County.[5] Originally developed as cotton plantations in the antebellum era, the rural county has struggled with a declining economy and reduced population since the mechanization of agriculture and urbanization of other areas. In 2020, its population of 7,260 was roughly one-third of the population peak in 1900. Within the United States, in 2009 rural Jefferson County had the highest percentage of African-Americans of any county. It was the fourth-poorest county in the nation.[6]

Geography

[edit]

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 527 square miles (1,360 km2), of which 520 square miles (1,300 km2) is land and 7.3 square miles (19 km2) (1.4%) is water.[7]

Major highways

[edit]

Adjacent counties

[edit]

National protected areas

[edit]

Demographics

[edit]
Historical population
CensusPop.Note%±
18002,940—
18104,00136.1%
18206,82270.5%
18309,75543.0%
184011,65019.4%
185013,19313.2%
186015,34916.3%
187013,848−9.8%
188017,31425.0%
189018,9479.4%
190021,29212.4%
191018,221−14.4%
192015,946−12.5%
193014,291−10.4%
194013,969−2.3%
195011,306−19.1%
196010,142−10.3%
19709,295−8.4%
19809,181−1.2%
19908,653−5.8%
20009,74012.6%
20107,726−20.7%
20207,260−6.0%
2025 (est.)6,825[8] Decrease−6.0%
U.S. Decennial Census[9]
1790-1960[10] 1900-1990[11]
1990-2000[12] 2010-2013[13]

2020 census

[edit]
Jefferson County, Mississippi – Racial and ethnic composition
Note: the US Census treats Hispanic/Latino as an ethnic category. This table excludes Latinos from the racial categories and assigns them to a separate category. Hispanics/Latinos may be of any race.
Race / Ethnicity (NH = Non-Hispanic) Pop 1980[14] Pop 1990[15] Pop 2000[16] Pop 2010[17] Pop 2020[18] % 1980 % 1990 % 2000 % 2010 % 2020
White alone (NH) 1,627 1,174 1,263 1,056 891 17.72% 13.57% 12.97% 13.67% 12.27%
Black or African American alone (NH) 7,431 7,430 8,373 6,601 6,138 80.94% 85.87% 85.97% 85.44% 84.55%
Native American or Alaska Native alone (NH) 2 2 8 13 10 0.02% 0.02% 0.08% 0.17% 0.14%
Asian alone (NH) 5 4 10 2 14 0.05% 0.05% 0.10% 0.03% 0.19%
Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander alone (NH) x [19] x [20] 1 1 5 x x 0.01% 0.01% 0.07%
Other race alone (NH) 1 0 0 2 5 0.01% 0.00% 0.00% 0.03% 0.07%
Mixed race or Multiracial (NH) x [21] x [22] 21 23 123 x x 0.22% 0.30% 1.69%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 115 43 64 28 74 1.25% 0.50% 0.66% 0.36% 1.02%
Total 9,181 8,653 9,740 7,726 7,260 100.00% 100.00% 100.00% 100.00% 100.00%

2020 census

[edit]

As of the 2020 census, the county had a population of 7,260. The median age was 40.5 years. 23.2% of residents were under the age of 18 and 17.1% of residents were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 95.1 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 93.8 males age 18 and over.[23][24]

The racial makeup of the county was 12.3% White, 85.3% Black or African American, 0.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% Asian, 0.1% Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander, 0.1% from some other race, and 1.8% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino residents of any race comprised 1.0% of the population.[24]

<0.1% of residents lived in urban areas, while 100.0% lived in rural areas.[25]

There were 2,865 households in the county, of which 32.3% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 27.1% were married-couple households, 24.6% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 43.8% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 34.2% of all households were made up of individuals and 13.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.[23]

There were 3,346 housing units, of which 14.4% were vacant. Among occupied housing units, 73.4% were owner-occupied and 26.6% were renter-occupied. The homeowner vacancy rate was 1.9% and the rental vacancy rate was 7.3%.[23]

Education

[edit]

Jefferson County School District operates public schools in all of the county.[26]

It is in the district of Copiah–Lincoln Community College, and has been since 1967.[27]

Communities

[edit]

City

[edit]

Unincorporated communities

[edit]

Ghost towns or defunct

[edit]

Politics

[edit]

Jefferson County is overwhelmingly Democratic, and has supported Democratic candidates in presidential elections with at least 80% of the vote since Bill Clinton in 1992, who won 79%. Republicans have not garnered even 25% of the vote in presidential elections since 1972 (when Jefferson was one of only three counties in Mississippi to vote for George McGovern).

The last Republican to win the county was Barry Goldwater. Although Goldwater lost nationally in a landslide, he carried the state of Mississippi (and also Jefferson County) in a landslide, winning over 87% of the vote and carrying every county.[note 1] Jefferson County supported him with 95% of the vote. Goldwater's lopsided victory was the result of Mississippi's decades-long suppression of the voting rights of African Americans, which only began to be reversed with the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.[note 2]

United States presidential election results for Jefferson County, Mississippi[31][32]
Year Republican Democratic Third party(ies)
No.  % No.  % No.  %
1912 2 0.46% 408 94.66% 21 4.87%
1916 3 0.65% 456 99.13% 1 0.22%
1920 14 3.15% 430 96.63% 1 0.22%
1924 50 9.14% 497 90.86% 0 0.00%
1928 63 7.05% 830 92.95% 0 0.00%
1932 24 3.07% 753 96.29% 5 0.64%
1936 9 1.01% 884 98.88% 1 0.11%
1940 7 0.87% 801 99.13% 0 0.00%
1944 25 3.16% 766 96.84% 0 0.00%
1948 14 1.41% 15 1.51% 967 97.09%
1952 610 53.09% 539 46.91% 0 0.00%
1956 189 19.65% 440 45.74% 333 34.62%
1960 137 12.52% 229 20.93% 728 66.54%
1964 1,258 94.80% 69 5.20% 0 0.00%
1968 147 4.35% 2,121 62.75% 1,112 32.90%
1972 1,131 43.37% 1,457 55.87% 20 0.77%
1976 782 22.83% 2,562 74.78% 82 2.39%
1980 751 20.17% 2,871 77.09% 102 2.74%
1984 856 21.88% 3,049 77.94% 7 0.18%
1988 702 20.64% 2,693 79.18% 6 0.18%
1992 562 15.96% 2,796 79.39% 164 4.66%
1996 489 15.68% 2,531 81.15% 99 3.17%
2000 600 17.61% 2,786 81.75% 22 0.65%
2004 630 18.18% 2,821 81.39% 15 0.43%
2008 551 12.30% 3,883 86.71% 44 0.98%
2012 468 10.56% 3,951 89.13% 14 0.32%
2016 490 12.69% 3,337 86.45% 33 0.85%
2020 531 13.59% 3,327 85.13% 50 1.28%
2024 541 16.40% 2,727 82.66% 31 0.94%

Notable people

[edit]
  • Abijah Hunt, merchant who lived in Old Greenville during the Territorial Period, and owned a chain of stores and public cotton gins along the Natchez Trace[33]
  • David Hunt, Antebellum planter who lived on Woodlawn Plantation in Jefferson County, and became one of 12 planter millionaires in the Natchez District before the American Civil War.
  • Zachary Taylor, U.S. president, planter, and soldier who often stayed on his plantation, Cypress Grove in Jefferson County, between 1840 and 1848.

See also

[edit]

Notes

[edit]
  1. ^ the statewide popular vote for Barry was 356,528, or 87.14%. Jefferson county saw 94.8% of its voters vote for Goldwater.[28][29]
  2. ^ "Despite all of this progress, the South remained segregated, especially when it came to the polls, where African Americans faced violence and intimidation when they attempted to exercise their constitutional right to vote. Poll taxes and literacy tests designed to silence Black voters were common. Without access to the polls, political change in favor of civil rights was slow-to-non-existent. Mississippi was chosen as the site of the Freedom Summer project due to its historically low levels of African American voter registration; in 1962 less than 7 percent of the state's eligible Black voters were registered to vote."[30]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Census - Geography Profile: Jefferson County, Mississippi". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved January 9, 2023.
  2. ^ "Welcome to Jefferson County, MSGenWeb".
  3. ^ "Find a County". National Association of Counties. Archived from the original on May 31, 2011. Retrieved June 7, 2011.
  4. ^ Gannett, Henry (1905). The Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States. Govt. Print. Off. p. 168.
  5. ^ "Welcome to Jefferson County, MSGenWeb".
  6. ^ "King: They'll take small victories in struggling Mississippi county." CNN. September 25, 2009, Retrieved September 26, 2009.
  7. ^ "2010 Census Gazetteer Files". United States Census Bureau. August 22, 2012. Archived from the original on September 28, 2013. Retrieved November 4, 2014.
  8. ^ "County Population Totals and Components of Change: 2020-2025". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved April 14, 2026.
  9. ^ "U.S. Decennial Census". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved November 4, 2014.
  10. ^ "Historical Census Browser". University of Virginia Library. Retrieved November 4, 2014.
  11. ^ "Population of Counties by Decennial Census: 1900 to 1990". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved November 4, 2014.
  12. ^ "Census 2000 PHC-T-4. Ranking Tables for Counties: 1990 and 2000" (PDF). United States Census Bureau. Archived (PDF) from the original on March 27, 2010. Retrieved November 4, 2014.
  13. ^ "State & County QuickFacts". United States Census Bureau. Archived from the original on June 7, 2011. Retrieved September 3, 2013.
  14. ^ "1980 Census of Population - General Social and Economic Characteristics - Mississippi - Table 58 - Race by Sex: 1980 and Table 59 - Persons by Spanish Origin, Race, and Sex: 1980" (PDF). United States Census Bureau. p. 17-32. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 7, 2022 – via Wayback Machine.
  15. ^ "1990 Census of Population - General Population Characteristics - Mississippi: Table 6 - Race and Hispanic Origin" (PDF). United States Census Bureau. p. 9-37. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 21, 2024 – via Wayback Machine.
  16. ^ "P004: Hispanic or Latino, and Not Hispanic or Latino by Race – 2000: DEC Summary File 1 – Jefferson County, Mississippi". United States Census Bureau.
  17. ^ "P2: Hispanic or Latino, and Not Hispanic or Latino by Race – 2010: DEC Redistricting Data (PL 94-171) – Jefferson County, Mississippi". United States Census Bureau.
  18. ^ "P2: Hispanic or Latino, and Not Hispanic or Latino by Race – 2020: DEC Redistricting Data (PL 94-171) – Jefferson County, Mississippi". United States Census Bureau.
  19. ^ included in the Asian category in the 1980 Census
  20. ^ included in the Asian category in the 1990 Census
  21. ^ not an option in the 1980 Census
  22. ^ not an option in the 1990 Census
  23. ^ a b c "2020 Decennial Census Demographic Profile (DP1)". United States Census Bureau. 2021. Retrieved December 24, 2025.
  24. ^ a b "2020 Decennial Census Redistricting Data (Public Law 94-171)". United States Census Bureau. 2021. Retrieved December 24, 2025.
  25. ^ "2020 Decennial Census Demographic and Housing Characteristics (DHC)". United States Census Bureau. 2023. Retrieved December 24, 2025.
  26. ^ "2020 CENSUS - SCHOOL DISTRICT REFERENCE MAP: Jefferson County, MS" (PDF). U.S. Census Bureau. Archived (PDF) from the original on July 31, 2022. Retrieved July 31, 2022. - Text list
  27. ^ "History". Copiah–Lincoln Community College. Retrieved September 27, 2024.
  28. ^ "Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections - Data Graphs". uselectionatlas.org. Retrieved December 29, 2025.
  29. ^ "1964 Presidential General Election Results - Mississippi". uselectionatlas.org. Retrieved December 29, 2025.
  30. ^ "Freedom Summer ‑ Definition, Murders & Results". April 16, 2021.
  31. ^ Leip, David. "Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections". uselectionatlas.org. Retrieved March 4, 2018.
  32. ^ Clark, Eric (March 22, 2005). "Certification of Presidential Electors" (PDF). Secretary of State of Mississippi. Archived (PDF) from the original on June 1, 2024. Retrieved March 13, 2026.
  33. ^ A Guide to the Abijah Hunt Papers, 1800-1821, 1880, The University of Texas at Austin: Briscoe Center for American History
[edit]
  • Wikimedia Commons logo Media related to Jefferson County, Mississippi at Wikimedia Commons

31°44′N 91°02′W / 31.73°N 91.03°W / 31.73; -91.03

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jefferson_County,_Mississippi&oldid=1356352482"