Pike County, Alabama

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Pike County, Alabama
Map
Location in the state of Alabama
Alabama's location in the U.S.
Statistics
Founded	December 17, 1821
Seat	Troy
Largest city	Troy
Area - Total - Land - Water	672 sq mi (1,740 km²) 671 sq mi (1,738 km²) 1 sq mi (3 km²), (0.16%)
Population - (2000) - Density	29,605 21/sq mi (8/km²)

Pike County is a county of the U.S. state of Alabama. Its name is in honor of General Zebulon Pike, of New Jersey, an explorer who led an expedition to southern Colorado and discovered Pikes Peak in 1806. As of 2000 the population was 29,605. Local legend claims that the original county name of Zebulon was abandoned when the founders had trouble making the letter "Z". Its county seat is Troy.

1 History
2 Geography
- 2.1 Major highways
- 2.2 Adjacent counties
3 Demographics
4 Cities and towns
5 References
6 External links

[edit] History

In 1819 the State of Alabama was admitted to the Union and was soon organized into counties. Pike County was named from general Zebulon Montgomery Pike of New Jersey, bein one of the oldest counties, established in the year 1831. The Act of Legislature of Alabama of December 13th, 1821 provided that tunil the COmmisioners of the County of Pike shold select a site for the seat of justice, the temporary seat was established at the house of Andrew Townsend in said county. Pike County comprised a large tract of country, so large that it was called the State of Pike, including a part of what is now Crenshaw, Montgomery, Macon, Bullock, and Barbour Counties, and extended to the Chattahoochie River on the east.

[edit] Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 672 square miles (1,741 km²), of which, 671 square miles (1,738 km²) of it is land and 1 square miles (3 km²) of it (0.16%) is water.

[edit] Major highways

[edit] Adjacent counties

Bullock County (northeast)
Barbour County (east)
Dale County (southeast)
Coffee County (south)
Crenshaw County (west)
Montgomery County (northwest)

[edit] Demographics

As of the census^[1] of 2000, there were 29,605 people, 11,933 households, and 7,649 families residing in the county. The population density was 44 people per square mile (17/km²). There were 13,981 housing units at an average density of 21 per square mile (8/km²). The racial makeup of the county was 60.77% White, 36.60% Black or African American, 0.66% Native American, 0.35% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 0.26% from other races, and 1.35% from two or more races. 1.23% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

There were 11,933 households out of which 29.70% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 43.60% were married couples living together, 16.80% had a female householder with no husband present, and 35.90% were non-families. 29.80% of all households were made up of individuals and 11.00% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.38 and the average family size was 2.98.

In the county the population was spread out with 24.40% under the age of 18, 15.80% from 18 to 24, 26.00% from 25 to 44, 21.20% from 45 to 64, and 12.60% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 32 years. For every 100 females there were 89.50 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 84.90 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $25,551, and the median income for a family was $34,132. Males had a median income of $27,094 versus $18,758 for females. The per capita income for the county was $14,904. About 18.50% of families and 23.10% of the population were below the poverty line, including 29.90% of those under age 18 and 21.90% of those age 65 or over.