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Mercer County
	Mercer County, Kentucky
	Map
	; Location in the state of Kentucky
	; Kentucky's location in the U.S.
	Statistics
Founded	1786
Seat	Harrodsburg
Area; - Total; - Land; - Water	; 253 sq mi (655 km²); 251 sq mi (650 km²); 2 sq mi (5 km²), 0.87%
Population; - (2000); - Density	; 20,817; 83/sq mi (32/km²)
Time zone	Eastern: UTC-5/-4
	Named for: Hugh Mercer (1726–1777), killed at the Battle of Princeton.
	Mercer County Courthouse in Harrodsburg, Kentucky

Mercer County is a county located in the U.S. state of Kentucky. As of 2000, the population was 20,817. Its county seat is Harrodsburg^[1]. The county is named for General Hugh Mercer.

[edit] History

Pleasant Hill is the site of a former Shaker community.

With regard to the sale of alcoholic beverages, Mercer is a dry county that prohibits the sale of alcohol for off-premises consumption. However, its residents consider it to be a moist county. The Kentucky Office of Alcoholic Beverage Control officially calls it a "limited county", reserving the term "moist" for dry counties that contain a "wet" city that allows alcohol sales for off-premises consumption. The city of Harrodsburg, although dry for off-premises sale, allows restaurants that seat at least 100 diners and derive at least 70% of their sales from food (i.e., not from alcoholic beverages) to sell alcohol by the drink. In addition, the precinct that includes the Pleasant Hill site has approved the sale of alcohol by the drink at Pleasant Hill, specifically in the on-site restaurant.

[edit] Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 253 square miles (655 km²), of which, 251 square miles (650 km²) is land and 2 square miles (5.2 km²) is water.

[edit] Adjacent counties

Anderson County (north)
Woodford County (northeast)
Jessamine County (east)
Garrard County (southeast)
Boyle County (south)
Washington County (west)

[edit] Demographics

Age distribution (2000 census)

Population (2000-2008)^[2]^[3]

Median income (2000 census)

Historical populations
Census	Pop.	%±
1790	7,091	—
1800	9,646	36.0%
1810	12,630	30.9%
1820	15,587	23.4%
1830	17,694	13.5%
1840	18,720	5.8%
1850	14,067	−24.9%
1860	13,701	−2.6%
1870	13,144	−4.1%
1880	14,142	7.6%
1890	15,034	6.3%
1900	14,426	−4.0%
1910	14,063	−2.5%
1920	14,795	5.2%
1930	14,471	−2.2%
1940	14,629	1.1%
1950	14,643	0.1%
1960	14,596	−0.3%
1970	15,960	9.3%
1980	19,011	19.1%
1990	19,148	0.7%
2000	20,817	8.7%
http://ukcc.uky.edu/~census/21167.txt

As of the census^[4] of 2000, there were 20,817 people, 8,423 households, and 6,039 families residing in the county. The population density was 83 per square mile (32 /km²). There were 9,289 housing units at an average density of 37 per square mile (14 /km²). The racial makeup of the county was 94.00% White, 3.69% Black or African American, 0.21% Native American, 0.47% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 0.63% from other races, and 0.96% from two or more races. 1.27% of the population were Hispanics or Latinos of any race.

There were 8,423 households out of which 31.80% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 57.80% were married couples living together, 10.40% had a female householder with no husband present, and 28.30% were non-families. 25.10% of all households were made up of individuals and 11.60% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.45 and the average family size was 2.93.

By age, 24.40% of the population was under 18, 7.40% from 18 to 24, 29.10% from 25 to 44, 24.50% from 45 to 64, and 14.60% were 65 or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females there were 94.00 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 89.70 males.

The median income for a household in the county was US $35,555, and the median income for a family was $43,121. Males had a median income of $33,657 versus $22,418 for females. The per capita income for the county was $17,972. About 10.00% of families and 12.90% of the population were below the poverty line, including 17.40% of those under age 18 and 12.00% of those age 65 or over.