List of counties in Kentucky

This is a list of the 120 counties in the U.S. commonwealth of Kentucky. Despite ranking 37th in size by area, Kentucky has 120 counties; depending on definitions, this is either third or fourth among U.S. states. Texas has 254 counties and Georgia 159; Virginia has only 95 counties, but also has 38 independent cities that are not part of any county and deal directly with the state government, giving that state 133 county-level administrative units.[1] The original motivation for having so many counties was to ensure that residents in the days of poor roads and horseback travel could make a round trip from their home to the county seat and back in a single day, as well as being able to travel from one county seat to the next in the same fashion.[2] Later, however, politics began to play a part, with citizens who disagreed with the present county government simply petitioning the state to create a new county. Today, 20 of the 120 counties have fewer than 10,000 residents, and half have fewer than 20,000. However the 20 largest counties by population all have populations of 50,000 or higher. The average county population, based on an estimated 2017 state population of 4.454 million, was 37,117.

Counties of Kentucky
Location	Commonwealth of Kentucky
Number	120
Populations	2,282 (Robertson) – 741,096 (Jefferson)
Areas	99 square miles (260 km2) (Gallatin) – 788 square miles (2,040 km2) (Pike)
Government	County government

The 1891 Kentucky Constitution placed stricter limits on county creation, stipulating that a new county:

• must have a land area of at least 400 square miles (1,036 km²);
• must have a population of at least 12,000 people;
• must not by its creation reduce the land area of an existing county to less than 400 square miles;
• must not by its creation reduce the population of an existing county to fewer than 12,000 people;
• must not create a county boundary line that passes within 10 miles (16 kilometers) of an existing county seat.

These regulations have reined in the proliferation of counties in Kentucky. Since the 1891 Constitution, only McCreary County has been legally created, in 1912. The General Assembly's creation of Beckham County in 1904 was ruled unconstitutional.[3]

Because today's largest county by area, Pike County, is 788 square miles (2,041 km²), it is now impossible to create a new county from a single existing county under the current constitution. Any county to be created in this manner will necessarily reduce the land area of the old county to less than 400 square miles (1,000 km²). It is still possible to form a new county from portions of more than one existing county; McCreary County was formed in this manner, from parts of Wayne, Pulaski and Whitley counties.

The largest city in Kentucky, Louisville, is a consolidated local government under KRS 67C. The second largest, Lexington, is an urban-county government under KRS 67A. Lexington and Fayette County are completely merged and there are no separate incorporated cities within the county. When the Louisville Metro government was formed, all incorporated cities in Jefferson County, apart from Louisville, retained their status as cities; however, the Louisville Metro Council is the main government for the entire county, and is elected by residents in all of Jefferson County. In both of these counties, while Lexington and Louisville city governments govern their respective counties, a county Fiscal Court (Kentucky's governing body for counties) is still elected, as required by Kentucky's Constitution.

The Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) code, which is used by the United States government to uniquely identify counties, is provided with each entry; for Kentucky the codes start with 21 and are completed with the three digit county code. The FIPS code for each county links to census data for that county.

Forty-one counties (Adair, Allen, Ballard, Barren, Breckinridge, Butler, Caldwell, Calloway, Carlisle, Christian, Clinton, Crittenden, Cumberland, Daviess, Edmonson, Fulton, Graves, Grayson, Green, Hancock, Hart, Henderson, Hickman, Hopkins, Livingston, Logan, Lyon, Marshall, McCracken, McLean, Metcalfe, Monroe, Muhlenberg, Ohio, Russell, Simpson, Todd, Trigg, Union, Warren and Webster counties) lie in the Central Time Zone.

Seventy-nine counties (Anderson, Bath, Bell, Boone, Bourbon, Boyd, Boyle, Bracken, Breathitt, Bullitt, Campbell, Carroll, Carter, Casey, Clark, Clay, Elliott, Estill, Fayette, Fleming, Floyd, Franklin, Gallatin, Garrard, Grant, Greenup, Hardin, Harlan, Harrison, Henry, Jackson, Jefferson, Jessamine, Johnson, Kenton, Knott, Knox, LaRue, Laurel, Lawrence, Lee, Leslie, Letcher, Lewis, Lincoln, Madison, Magoffin, Marion, Martin, Mason, McCreary, Meade, Menifee, Mercer, Montgomery, Morgan, Nelson, Nicholas, Oldham, Owen, Owsley, Pendleton, Perry, Pike, Powell, Pulaski, Robertson, Rockcastle, Rowan, Scott, Shelby, Spencer, Taylor, Trimble, Washington, Wayne, Whitley, Wolfe and Woodford counties) lie in the Eastern Time Zone.