Kentucky Counties

Complete list of all 120 counties in Kentucky with population, area, median income, and county seats — plus a free printable blank map.

Counties

120

Population

4,523,454

Area

39,487 sq mi

Capital

Frankfort

Time Zone

America/Kentucky/Louisville

Labeled outline map of Kentucky counties. Download a printable version in SVG, PNG, or PDF.

All 120 Kentucky counties

County	County Seat	Population ▼	Area	Median Income	Cities
Jefferson	—	788,809	380 mi²	$72,727	7
Fayette	—	324,356	284 mi²	$73,938	1
Kenton	—	166,567	160 mi²	$82,506	7
Warren	—	147,438	542 mi²	$66,542	6
Boone	—	144,247	246 mi²	$104,205	8
Hardin	—	105,374	623 mi²	$69,080	10
Daviess	—	101,898	458 mi²	$67,732	7
Madison	—	96,915	437 mi²	$62,683	4
Campbell	—	92,552	151 mi²	$82,775	8
Oldham	—	81,024	187 mi²	$123,711	7
Bullitt	—	71,354	297 mi²	$84,105	7
Pulaski	—	66,778	658 mi²	$52,088	9
McCracken	—	64,303	249 mi²	$64,544	2
Christian	—	61,023	718 mi²	$54,801	9
Scott	—	60,030	282 mi²	$84,097	3

How many counties does Kentucky have?

Kentucky has 120 counties covering 39,487 square miles and roughly 4,523,454 residents. The state was admitted to the Union in 1792 as the 15th state, and the current county boundaries reflect more than a century of administrative subdivision.

The largest county by land area is Pike County at 787 square miles, home to about 56,221 residents. The most populous is Jefferson County with approximately 788,809 residents — a density of about 2,076 people per square mile.

At the other end of the scale, Robertson County has only about 2,161 residents.

Kentucky’s capital is Frankfort, while the largest city is Louisville — a common pattern in the United States, where many states placed their capitals in smaller, more central towns rather than their largest commercial hubs.

Related resources

Download a printable outline of Kentucky’s county boundaries from our blank map of Kentucky page — available in SVG, PNG, and PDF.

Use the What County Am I In? tool to detect which Kentucky county a GPS location or address falls in, or the Address to County Lookup for batch input.

For demographic radius analysis, the Find ZIP Codes in Radius and Population Within Radius tools let you draw a circle around any Kentucky address and see every ZIP code and the total population inside.

Two SimpleMapLab studies cover Kentucky specifically: the 100-mile radius around Frankfort measures how much of the state lives within 100 miles of its capitol, and the loneliest town in Kentucky ranks the state’s most isolated inhabited place. The county-counts blog post puts Kentucky’s 120 counties in national context.

Frequently asked questions

Kentucky has 120 counties. The state was admitted to the Union in 1792 as the 15th state. County boundaries have shifted over time as the population spread and new administrative units were carved from existing ones.

Pike County is the largest by land area at 787 square miles, with about 56,221 residents.

Jefferson County is the most populous, with approximately 788,809 residents over 380 square miles.

Robertson County has the smallest population at about 2,161 residents.

Frankfort is the state capital. The largest city is Louisville — a common pattern in the US, where many states placed their capitals in smaller, more central towns rather than their largest commercial hubs.

Population, area, and demographic figures are aggregated from ZIP-code-level US Census data (via the SimpleMaps dataset) and the US Census Gazetteer. County boundaries used to render the map are from the US Atlas TopoJSON build of the Census Bureau's TIGER/Line shapefiles. The data is public domain.

Data sources

Population and demographics are aggregated from ZIP-code-level US Census data via the SimpleMaps dataset. Countiesboundaries are from the US Atlas TopoJSON build of the Census Bureau’s TIGER/Line shapefiles. Land area is from the Census Gazetteer. State counts follow the US Census Bureau’s definition of counties and county-equivalents (50 states + DC = 3,143). All sources are public domain.

Neighboring states