Fayette County, Kentucky

Fayette County
Consolidated city-county
Lexington-Fayette Urban County
Robert F. Stephens Courthouse Complex in Lexington
Seal
Location within the U.S. state of Kentucky
Kentucky's location within the U.S.
Coordinates: 38°02′N84°28′W / 38.04°N 84.46°W / 38.04; -84.46
Country	United States
State	Kentucky
Founded	1780
Named for	Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette
Seat	Lexington
Largest city	Lexington
Area
• Total	286 sq mi (740 km2)
• Land	284 sq mi (740 km2)
• Water	1.9 sq mi (5 km2)  0.7%
Population  (2020)
• Total	322,570
• Estimate  (2023)	320,154
• Density	1,100/sq mi (440/km2)
Time zone	UTC−5 (Eastern)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−4 (EDT)
Congressional district	6th
Website	www.lexingtonky.gov

Fayette County is a county located in the central part of the U.S. state of Kentucky and is consolidated with the city of Lexington. As of the 2020 census, the population was 322,570, ^[1] making it the second-most populous county in the commonwealth. Since 1974, its territory, population and government have been shared with Lexington. ^[2] Fayette County is part of the Lexington-Fayette, KY Metropolitan Statistical Area.

History

Fayette County was formed in 1780, when the Virginia General Assembly partitioned Kentucky County.

Fayette County—originally Fayette County, Virginia—was established by the Virginia General Assembly in June 1780, when it abolished and subdivided Kentucky County into three counties: Fayette, Jefferson and Lincoln. Together, these counties and those set off from them later in that decade separated from Virginia in 1792 to become the Commonwealth of Kentucky.

Originally, Fayette County included land which makes up 37 present-day counties and parts of 7 others. It was reduced to its present boundaries in 1799. The county is named for the Marquis de LaFayette, who moved to the United States to support the colonies rebelling against British rule during the American Revolutionary War. ^{[3] [4]}

On January 1, 1974, Fayette County merged its government with that of its county seat of Lexington, creating a consolidated city-county governed by the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 286 square miles (740 km²), of which 284 square miles (740 km²) is land and 1.9 square miles (4.9 km²) (0.7%) is water. ^[5]

Major highways

• Interstate 75
• Interstate 64
• U.S. Route 25
• U.S. Route 27
• U.S. Route 60
• U.S. Route 68
• U.S. Route 421
• Kentucky Route 4, a.k.a. New Circle Road

Adjacent counties

• Scott County (north)
• Bourbon County (northeast)
• Clark County (east)
• Madison County (south)
• Jessamine County (south)
• Woodford County (west)

Demographics

Historical population

Census	Pop.	Note	%±
1790	18,410		—
1800	14,028		−23.8%
1810	21,370		52.3%
1820	23,250		8.8%
1830	25,098		7.9%
1840	22,194		−11.6%
1850	22,735		2.4%
1860	22,599		−0.6%
1870	26,656		18.0%
1880	29,023		8.9%
1890	35,698		23.0%
1900	42,071		17.9%
1910	47,715		13.4%
1920	54,664		14.6%
1930	68,543		25.4%
1940	78,899		15.1%
1950	100,746		27.7%
1960	131,906		30.9%
1970	174,323		32.2%
1980	204,165		17.1%
1990	225,366		10.4%
2000	260,512		15.6%
2010	295,803		13.5%
2020	322,570		9.0%
2023 (est.)	320,154	[6]	−0.7%
U.S. Decennial Census [7] 1790-1960 [8] 1900-1990 [9] 1990-2000 [10] 2010-2020 [1]

As of the census ^[11] of 2010, there were 295,803 people, 123,043 households, and 69,661 families residing in the county. The population density was 1,034 inhabitants per square mile (399/km²). There were 135,160 housing units at an average density of 473 per square mile (183/km²). The racial makeup of the county was 75.7% White, 14.5% Black or African American, 0.3% Native American, 3.2% Asian, 0.1% Pacific Islander, 3.7% from other races, and 2.5% from two or more races. 6.9% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

There were 123,043 households, out of which 25.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 40.1% were married couples living together, 12.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 43.4% were non-families. 32.7% of all households were made up of individuals, and 8.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.3 and the average family size was 2.94.

In the county, the population was spread out, with 21.2% under the age of 18, 5.9% from 18 to 21, and 62.4% from 21 to 65. 10.5% were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 33.7 years. 50.8% of the population was female.

The median income for a household in the county was $47,469, and the median income for a family was $66,690. Males had a median income of $44,343 versus $35,716 for females. The per capita income for the county was $28,345. About 11.1% of families and 17.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 21.6% of those under age 18 and 8.6% of those age 65 or over.

Education

Public high schools

Schools in the county are operated by Fayette County Public Schools.

• Henry Clay High School
• Paul Laurence Dunbar High School
• Frederick Douglass High School
• Bryan Station High School
• Lafayette High School
• Tates Creek High School
• STEAM Academy

Private middle and elementary schools

• The Lexington School
• Sayre School
• Lexington Christian Academy
• Christ the King School
• Mary Queen of the Holy Rosary School
• Saints Peter and Paul School
• Seton Catholic School
• Blue Grass Baptist School
• Redwood Cooperative School

Private high schools

• Lexington Catholic High School
• Lexington Christian Academy
• Sayre School
• Trinity Christian Academy
• Blue Grass Baptist School

Colleges and universities

• Bluegrass Community and Technical College
• Indiana Wesleyan University (Lexington campus)
• ITT Technical Institute
• Lexington Theological Seminary
• Midway College (Lexington campus) ^[12]
• National College of Business & Technology
• Spencerian College
• Sullivan University
• Transylvania University
• University of Kentucky

Politics

United States presidential election results for Fayette County, Kentucky ^[13]

Year	Republican		Democratic		Third party(ies)
	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
2024	56,287	40.33%	80,301	57.54%	2,973	2.13%
2020	58,860	38.49%	90,600	59.25%	3,452	2.26%
2016	56,894	41.74%	69,778	51.19%	9,643	7.07%
2012	60,795	48.30%	62,080	49.32%	2,991	2.38%
2008	59,884	46.91%	66,042	51.74%	1,722	1.35%
2004	66,406	52.88%	57,994	46.18%	1,176	0.94%
2000	54,495	51.67%	47,277	44.82%	3,705	3.51%
1996	42,930	46.33%	43,632	47.09%	6,102	6.59%
1992	41,908	43.87%	38,306	40.10%	15,320	16.04%
1988	48,065	58.96%	32,554	39.93%	906	1.11%
1984	51,993	63.60%	28,961	35.43%	792	0.97%
1980	35,349	49.22%	30,511	42.48%	5,957	8.29%
1976	35,170	54.12%	28,012	43.10%	1,807	2.78%
1972	42,362	66.54%	19,828	31.14%	1,476	2.32%
1968	24,948	49.53%	16,902	33.55%	8,523	16.92%
1964	18,739	42.40%	25,317	57.29%	136	0.31%
1960	25,169	60.43%	16,478	39.57%	0	0.00%
1956	21,904	61.38%	13,547	37.96%	232	0.65%
1952	17,376	54.66%	14,275	44.91%	138	0.43%
1948	10,959	41.91%	13,202	50.49%	1,988	7.60%
1944	10,857	44.14%	13,567	55.15%	174	0.71%
1940	12,514	44.01%	15,834	55.69%	84	0.30%
1936	11,544	44.10%	14,428	55.12%	203	0.78%
1932	11,847	42.51%	15,765	56.57%	257	0.92%
1928	16,988	65.11%	9,065	34.74%	39	0.15%
1924	11,755	52.20%	10,433	46.33%	331	1.47%
1920	11,032	45.70%	12,926	53.55%	181	0.75%
1916	5,472	45.95%	6,348	53.30%	89	0.75%
1912	4,060	37.80%	5,268	49.04%	1,414	13.16%
1908	4,748	46.76%	5,247	51.68%	158	1.56%
1904	3,947	42.87%	5,119	55.60%	141	1.53%
1900	5,302	54.78%	4,293	44.36%	83	0.86%
1896	5,143	55.54%	3,938	42.53%	179	1.93%
1892	2,431	37.19%	3,753	57.42%	352	5.39%
1888	3,301	48.13%	3,435	50.08%	123	1.79%
1884	3,000	53.19%	2,593	45.98%	47	0.83%
1880	2,830	53.20%	2,449	46.03%	41	0.77%

For much of the 20th century, Fayette County leaned more Republican than Kentucky as a whole. Between 1952 and 2004, it voted for the Republican nominee all but twice, for Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964 and Bill Clinton in 1996, with the latter only carrying the county by a narrow plurality. Even Southern Democrat Jimmy Carter lost the county by 11 points in 1976, despite winning Kentucky by a comfortable margin.

Until the mid-2000s, it did not swing as heavily to the Democrats as other urban counties. From 1992 to 2016, it was a swing county with close results between the two parties. In 2008, Barack Obama became the first Democrat to win the county since Bill Clinton in 1996, and the first Democrat to win a majority of its votes since Johnson. In 2016, Hillary Clinton won the county by the largest margin since Johnson, although it was one of only two counties in the entire Commonwealth to vote for her, the other being Jefferson County, home to the city of Louisville.

In 2020, Joe Biden turned in the strongest showing for a Democrat in the county in over a century, bettering even Franklin D. Roosevelt. In that year, Fayette County was the most Democratic county in the Commonwealth, giving Biden a slightly larger margin than Jefferson County, marking the first time since 1948 that Fayette County voted to the left of Jefferson County in a presidential election. This marked the first time that Fayette County was the most Democratic county in the state in Kentucky history. With nearly 60% of the vote, Biden received the highest percentage of the vote in the county of any Democratic candidate in history. Also in 2020, Donald Trump received the lowest portion of the vote for any Republican candidate in the county since William Howard Taft in 1912.

Communities

City

• Lexington

Unincorporated communities

• Andover
• Athens
• Clays Ferry
• Colby (partly in Clark County)
• Little Texas
• South Elkhorn
• Spears (partly in Jessamine County)
• Todds Station

Historically black hamlets

• Bracktown
• Cadentown
• Jimtown
• Smithtown
• Little Georgetown
• Pralltown

See also

• United States portal
• Kentucky portal

• National Register of Historic Places listings in Fayette County, Kentucky

References

1. "State & County QuickFacts". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved June 28, 2022.
2. "Find a County". National Association of Counties. Archived from the original on May 3, 2015. Retrieved June 7, 2011.
3. The Register of the Kentucky State Historical Society, Volume 1. Kentucky State Historical Society. 1903. pp.  35.
4. Gannett, Henry (1905). The Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States. Govt. Print. Off. pp.  124.
5. "2010 Census Gazetteer Files". United States Census Bureau. August 22, 2012. Archived from the original on August 12, 2014. Retrieved August 14, 2014.
6. "Annual Estimates of the Resident Population for Counties: April 1, 2020 to July 1, 2023". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved March 14, 2024.
7. "U.S. Decennial Census". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved August 14, 2014.
8. "Historical Census Browser". University of Virginia Library. Archived from the original on August 11, 2012. Retrieved August 14, 2014.
9. "Population of Counties by Decennial Census: 1900 to 1990". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved August 14, 2014.
10. "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 August 14, 2014.
11. "U.S. Census website". United States Census Bureau . Retrieved August 17, 2018.
12. "Midway College - Lexington Campus". Archived from the original on September 28, 2011. Retrieved May 13, 2011.
13. Leip, David. "Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections". uselectionatlas.org. Retrieved July 1, 2018.

External links

• Kentucky State Data Center
• Lexington Area Metropolitan Planning Organization
• Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government
• Fayette County Prosecutor's Office
• Fayette County Sheriff's Office

38°02′N84°28′W / 38.04°N 84.46°W / 38.04; -84.46