Lincoln County—originally Lincoln County, Virginia—was established by the Virginia General Assembly in June 1780, and named in honor of Revolutionary War general Benjamin Lincoln. It was one of three counties formed out of Virginia's Kentucky County, and is one of Kentucky's nine original counties. The county's original seat was at Harrodsburg; but in 1785, Lincoln County was partitioned, and Harrodsburg became the seat of the new Mercer County. Afterward, Stanford became Lincoln County's permanent seat. partitioned Kentucky County.
Geography
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of, of which is land and is water. Lincoln County is located in South Central Kentucky in the southern part of the ring of Knobs around the Bluegrass region. It includes the headwaters of the Green River.
As of the census of 2000, there were 23,361 people, 9,206 households, and 6,729 families residing in the county. The population density was. There were 10,127 housing units at an average density of. The racial makeup of the county was 96.12% White, 2.53% Black or African American, 0.15% Native American, 0.10% Asian, 0.38% from other races, and 0.72% from two or more races. 0.89% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. There were 9,206 households out of which 33.70% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 58.60% were married couplesliving together, 10.30% had a female householder with no husband present, and 26.90% were non-families. 23.60% of all households were made up of individuals and 10.50% 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 2.95. By age, 25.70% of the population was under 18, 8.40% from 18 to 24, 29.80% from 25 to 44, 23.10% from 45 to 64, and 13.10% were 65 or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females, there were 96.30 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 94.10 males. The median income for a household in the county was $26,542, and the median income for a family was $32,284. Males had a median income of $26,395 versus $20,517 for females. The per capita income for the county was $13,602. About 16.40% of families and 21.10% of the population were below the poverty line, including 27.10% of those under age 18 and 22.90% of those age 65 or over.
