Knox County is a county located in Appalachia near the southeastern corner of the U.S. state of Kentucky. As of the 2020 census, the population was 30,193. Its county seat is Barbourville. The county is named for General Henry Knox. It is one of the few coal-producing counties in Kentucky that has not suffered massive population loss. Knox County is included in the London, KY Micropolitan Statistical Area.

Knox County was formed on December 19, 1799, from portions of Lincoln County. It is usually assumed to be named for Henry Knox of Massachusetts, a Revolutionary War general and the first United States Secretary of War. However, there is strong evidence that it was actually named for James Knox. Knox was a pre-war explorer and long hunter, a veteran of Dunmore's War and the Revolutionary War, a pioneer guide, road-builder, and legislator. Knox had used the Wilderness Road, which traverses the county, as an explorer and later oversaw its improvement into a wagon road.

The Civil War Battle of Barbourville was fought on September 19, 1861, between 800 Confederate soldiers from General Felix Zollicoffer's command and 300 Union troops who attempted to defend the Union's Camp Andrew Johnson. The Union men tore up the planks on the bridge in an attempt to keep the Confederates from crossing, but the more numerous Confederates succeeded anyway. They destroyed the camp and seized the arms and equipment it contained.

The present courthouse, completed in 1964, is the fifth courthouse to serve the county.

The county has historically had coal mining as the driver of its economy. Unlike other areas of southeastern Kentucky, it has continued to maintain jobs and much of its population.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 388 square miles (1,000 km), of which 386 square miles (1,000 km) is land and 1.5 square miles (3.9 km) (0.4%) is water.

• Clay County (northeast)
• Bell County (southeast)
• Whitley County (southwest)
• Laurel County (northwest)

The largest employers in Knox County are Health Care & Social Assistance (1,406 people), Retail Trade (1,331 people), and Educational Services (1,226 people). But the highest-paying jobs are with mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction. Real estate sales, and rental and leasing also pay well, followed by finance and insurance.

Historical population

Census	Pop.	Note	%±
1810	5,875		—
1820	3,661		−37.7%
1830	4,315		17.9%
1840	5,722		32.6%
1850	7,050		23.2%
1860	7,707		9.3%
1870	8,294		7.6%
1880	10,587		27.6%
1890	13,762		30.0%
1900	17,372		26.2%
1910	22,116		27.3%
1920	24,172		9.3%
1930	26,266		8.7%
1940	31,029		18.1%
1950	30,409		−2.0%
1960	25,258		−16.9%
1970	23,689		−6.2%
1980	30,239		27.6%
1990	29,676		−1.9%
2000	31,795		7.1%
2010	31,883		0.3%
2020	30,193		−5.3%
2023 (est.)	29,794		−1.3%
U.S. Decennial Census 1790-1960 1900-1990 1990-2000 2010-2020

As of the census of 2000, there were 31,795 people, 12,416 households, and 8,939 families residing in the county. The population density was 82 per square mile (32/km). There were 13,999 housing units at an average density of 36 per square mile (14/km). The racial makeup of the county was 97.84% White, 0.82% Black or African American, 0.25% Native American, 0.17% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 0.08% from other races, and 0.82% from two or more races. 0.57% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

There were 12,416 households, out of which 34.40% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 54.30% were married couples living together, 13.60% had a female householder with no husband present, and 28.00% were non-families. 25.70% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10.60% 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 3.01.

In the county, the population was spread out, with 26.20% under the age of 18, 9.70% from 18 to 24, 28.10% from 25 to 44, 23.20% from 45 to 64, and 12.80% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35 years. For every 100 females, there were 92.90 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 88.70 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $18,294, and the median income for a family was $23,136. Males had a median income of $24,833 versus $18,390 for females. The per capita income for the county was $10,660. About 29.60% of families and 34.80% of the population were below the poverty line, including 42.40% of those under age 18 and 28.90% of those age 65 or over.

Knox County is part of the Unionist bloc of counties covering the eastern Pennyroyal Plateau and the western part of the Eastern Coalfield. Like all counties in this bloc, Knox County is majority white by a high proportion, strongly opposed secession, and has been rock-ribbed Republican ever since the Civil War. The only Democrat to carry Knox County since then has been Lyndon Johnson during his 1964 landslide.

On the state level, Knox County has historically been strongly Republican, having only voted for the Democratic candidate for Governor six times since 1900. Since 2000, Knox County has voted for the Democratic candidate only once, in 2011.

United States presidential election results for Knox County, Kentucky

Year	Republican		Democratic		Third party(ies)
	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
2024	11,178	84.82%	1,821	13.82%	180	1.37%
2020	11,012	82.97%	2,114	15.93%	147	1.11%
2016	9,885	82.29%	1,761	14.66%	366	3.05%
2012	8,467	76.28%	2,484	22.38%	149	1.34%
2008	8,150	71.56%	3,074	26.99%	165	1.45%
2004	8,108	67.41%	3,822	31.78%	98	0.81%
2000	6,058	61.13%	3,690	37.24%	162	1.63%
1996	4,502	49.50%	3,736	41.08%	857	9.42%
1992	5,011	51.00%	3,787	38.54%	1,027	10.45%
1988	4,903	62.21%	2,919	37.03%	60	0.76%
1984	5,730	65.87%	2,932	33.71%	37	0.43%
1980	5,539	59.95%	3,543	38.34%	158	1.71%
1976	4,931	56.93%	3,642	42.05%	88	1.02%
1972	5,017	72.93%	1,805	26.24%	57	0.83%
1968	4,388	57.77%	2,244	29.55%	963	12.68%
1964	3,583	46.11%	4,150	53.41%	37	0.48%
1960	5,814	66.29%	2,956	33.71%	0	0.00%
1956	6,341	71.39%	2,539	28.59%	2	0.02%
1952	5,470	66.28%	2,766	33.52%	17	0.21%
1948	4,241	58.98%	2,814	39.13%	136	1.89%
1944	5,178	68.40%	2,385	31.51%	7	0.09%
1940	5,003	60.06%	3,319	39.84%	8	0.10%
1936	4,921	58.97%	3,419	40.97%	5	0.06%
1932	4,513	56.85%	3,375	42.52%	50	0.63%
1928	5,928	79.76%	1,497	20.14%	7	0.09%
1924	3,767	67.34%	1,537	27.48%	290	5.18%
1920	5,228	76.68%	1,534	22.50%	56	0.82%
1916	3,192	73.18%	1,126	25.81%	44	1.01%
1912	1,391	39.02%	888	24.91%	1,286	36.07%

Three public school districts serve the county:

• [1] Knox County Public Schools serves the entire county, including the cities of Barbourville and Corbin. The following are schools funded by the Knox County Public School District (grades served in parentheses):
  • Central Elementary (PS–5)
  • Dewitt Elementary (PS–5)
  • Flat Lick Elementary (PS–5)
  • Girdler Elementary (PS–5)
  • G.R. Hampton Elementary (PS–5)
  • Jesse D. Lay Elementary (PS–5)
  • Lynn Camp Elementary (PS–5)
  • Knox County Middle School (6–8)
  • Lynn Camp High School (6–12)
  • Knox Appalachian School (5–12)
  • Knox Central High School (9–12)
  • Knox County Learning Academy (9–12)
• [2] Barbourville Independent School District serves the city of Barbourville at a single campus with elementary and high school sections (grades PS–12).
• The Corbin Independent School District serves the entire city of Corbin, making it one of the few districts in Kentucky whose boundaries cross county lines. The following are schools funded by the Corbin Independent School School District (grades served in parentheses):
  • Corbin Primary School (K–2)
  • Corbin Elementary (3–4)
  • Corbin Intermediate (5–6)
  • Corbin Middle School (7–8)
  • Corbin High School (9–12)

Union College, a small Methodist-affiliated liberal arts college, is located in Barbourville.

• Barbourville (county seat)
• Corbin (primarily in Whitley County)

• Artemus
• Flat Lick
• North Corbin (primarily in Laurel County)

• Gray
• Kay Jay

• Dry county
• National Register of Historic Places listings in Knox County, Kentucky

• The Kentucky Highlands Project
• Bradley, Erwin S., Union College: A History, 1889-1954, Written in Commemoration of the Seventy-Fifth Anniversary of Its Founding (Barbourville, KY: Union College, 1954). Available online at: https://archive.org/details/unioncollege18791954brad
• Decker, Elmer, "Knox County Kentucky History," manuscript by a local attorney from the 1930s and 1940s, containing much in the way of raw historical facts as well as documents, available online on the Bell County [KY] Public Libraries website www.bellcountypubliclibraries.org/crm/ky/knox/decker.html
• Fetterman, John, Stinking Creek: The Portrait of a Small Mountain Community in Appalachia (E. P. Dutton, 1967; reprint, Plume, 1970). Also available online on the Bell County [KY] Public Libraries website. See: Bellcountypubliclibraries.org
• Marigold, W. Gordon and Erwin S. Bradley, Union College, 1879-1979 (Barbourville, KY: Union College, 1979).
• Mills, Michael C., Barbourville and Knox County. Arcadia Publishing (August 2, 2000). Also available online at: Arcadia Publishing-Local Interest & American History Books
• Mitchell, Charles Reed, ed., History and Families, Knox County, Kentucky, 1799-1994. With a History of Knox County, Kentucky by William Sherman Oxendine, Charles Reed Mitchell, and Ron Rosenstiel (Paducah, KY: Turner Pub. Co., 1994).
• Warren, King Solomon, History of Knox County, Kentucky (Barbourville, KY: Daniel Boone Festival, 1976).

• Official website

36°53′26″N 83°51′15″W / 36.89067°N 83.85404°W / 36.89067; -83.85404