Rankin County, Mississippi | |
|---|---|
 Rankin County Courthouse in Brandon | |
 Location within the U.S. state ofMississippi | |
| Coordinates:32°16′N89°57′W / 32.26°N 89.95°W /32.26; -89.95 | |
| Country |  United States |
| State |  Mississippi |
| Founded | February 4, 1828 |
| Named after | Christopher Rankin |
| Seat | Brandon |
| Largest city | Pearl |
| Area | |
• Total | 806 sq mi (2,090 km2) |
| • Land | 775 sq mi (2,010 km2) |
| • Water | 31 sq mi (80 km2) 3.8% |
| Population (2020) | |
• Total | 157,031 |
• Estimate (2024) | 160,573 |
| • Density | 203/sq mi (78.2/km2) |
| Time zone | UTC−6 (Central) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC−5 (CDT) |
| Congressional district | 3rd |
| Website | www |
Rankin County is acounty located in theU.S. state ofMississippi. The western border of the county is formed by thePearl River. As of the2020 census, the population was 157,031,[1] making it the fourth-most populous county in Mississippi. Thecounty seat isBrandon.[2] The county is named in honor ofChristopher Rankin, a MississippiCongressman who served from 1819 to 1826.
Rankin County is part of theJacksonMetropolitan Statistical Area.
According to theU.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 806 square miles (2,090 km2), of which 775 square miles (2,010 km2) is land and 31 square miles (80 km2) (3.8%) is water.[3]
| Census | Pop. | Note | %± |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1830 | 2,083 | — | |
| 1840 | 4,631 | 122.3% | |
| 1850 | 7,227 | 56.1% | |
| 1860 | 13,635 | 88.7% | |
| 1870 | 12,977 | −4.8% | |
| 1880 | 16,752 | 29.1% | |
| 1890 | 17,922 | 7.0% | |
| 1900 | 20,955 | 16.9% | |
| 1910 | 23,944 | 14.3% | |
| 1920 | 20,272 | −15.3% | |
| 1930 | 20,353 | 0.4% | |
| 1940 | 27,934 | 37.2% | |
| 1950 | 28,881 | 3.4% | |
| 1960 | 34,322 | 18.8% | |
| 1970 | 43,933 | 28.0% | |
| 1980 | 69,427 | 58.0% | |
| 1990 | 87,161 | 25.5% | |
| 2000 | 115,327 | 32.3% | |
| 2010 | 141,617 | 22.8% | |
| 2020 | 157,031 | 10.9% | |
| 2024 (est.) | 160,573 | [4] | 2.3% |
| U.S. Decennial Census[5] 1790-1960[6] 1900-1990[7] 1990-2000[8] 2010-2019[9] | |||
| Race | Num. | Perc. |
|---|---|---|
| White (non-Hispanic) | 111,990 | 71.32% |
| Black or African American (non-Hispanic) | 32,430 | 20.65% |
| Native American | 255 | 0.16% |
| Asian | 2,260 | 1.44% |
| Pacific Islander | 94 | 0.06% |
| Other/Mixed | 4,935 | 3.14% |
| Hispanic orLatino | 5,067 | 3.23% |
As of the2020 census, the county had a population of 157,031. The median age was 38.5 years. 23.4% of residents were under the age of 18 and 15.8% of residents were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 93.6 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 90.4 males age 18 and over.[11][12]
The racial makeup of the county was 71.9%White, 20.7%Black or African American, 0.2%American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.4%Asian, 0.1%Native Hawaiian andPacific Islander, 1.8% from some other race, and 3.9% fromtwo or more races.Hispanic or Latino residents of any race comprised 3.2% of the population.[12]
67.0% of residents lived in urban areas, while 33.0% lived in rural areas.[13]
There were 59,626 households in the county, of which 34.1% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 51.0% were married-couple households, 15.7% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 28.6% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 25.5% of all households were made up of individuals and 10.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.[11]
There were 63,611 housing units, of which 6.3% were vacant. Among occupied housing units, 75.0% were owner-occupied and 25.0% were renter-occupied. The homeowner vacancy rate was 1.4% and the rental vacancy rate was 7.9%.[11]
Interstate 20
Interstate 55
U.S. Highway 80
U.S. Highway 49
Mississippi Highway 13
Mississippi Highway 18
Mississippi Highway 25
Mississippi Highway 43
Mississippi Highway 149
Mississippi Highway 468
Mississippi Highway 469
Mississippi Highway 471
Mississippi Highway 475
Mississippi Highway 477
Mississippi Highway 481Jackson Evers International Airport is located inunincorporated Rankin County.
TheMississippi Department of Corrections (MDOC) operates theCentral Mississippi Correctional Facility (CMCF), located inunincorporated Rankin County.[14][15] CMCF houses the state's female death row inmates.[14] MDOC also operates the Brandon Probation and Parole Office inBrandon.[16] In 2007 theMississippi Highway Patrol opened a driver's license facility across the highway from the prison.[17]
TheMississippi State Hospital of theMississippi Department of Mental Health is inWhitfield in unincorporated Rankin County.[18][19] It occupies the formerRankin Farm prison grounds.[20] In 1935, the Mississippi State Insane Asylum moved from a complex of 19th-century buildings in northernJackson, the capital, to its existing location.[21]
TheMississippi Department of Environmental Quality operates the Central Regional Office and the MDEQ Laboratory in unincorporated Rankin County.[22][23]
Rankin County is one of the most conservative counties in the state, with Republican candidates normally receiving 70% or so of the popular vote. The county last supported the official Democratic candidate for president in 1956, which is also the last time a Democrat got even 40 percent of the county's vote. While conservative Democrats held most local offices well into the 1980s, there are almost no elected Democrats remaining above the county level.
TheMississippi Department of Public Safety operates the Mississippi Law Enforcement Officers' Training Academy (MLEOTA) on a 243-acre (98 ha) property in Rankin County, near CMCF and the MSH, 10 miles (16 km) from Jackson.[24]
"The Rankin County Sheriff’s Department, which runs the jail, has a documented history of brazen violence."[25]
In February 2023, theDepartment of Justice opened a civil rights investigation into conduct of the Rankin County Sheriffs department. The investigation is centered on aJanuary 24, 2023, incident where deputies searched the house of Michael Jenkins and Eddie Parker. Jenkins and Parker, both African-Americans, experienced six deputies turning-off their body cameras, torturing the men for two hours, shocking them with tasers, repeatedly shouting racial slurs, and shooting one of them in the mouth. All accused officers pled guilty and were convicted.[26][27][28]
In June 2023, Jenkins and Parker filed a $400M lawsuit against Sheriff Bryan Bailey and six deputies. In late June, the Sheriff announced that some deputies involved had been terminated or resigned from their jobs, and that the department hired a "compliance officer" to monitor the Sheriff department's daily operations.[29][30] An investigation by theAssociated Press determined that the Sheriff's Special Response Team had been involved in four violent incidents with African-Americans since 2019, resulting in two deaths.[31][32]
| Year | Republican | Democratic | Third party(ies) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | % | No. | % | No. | % | |
| 1912 | 7 | 0.92% | 718 | 93.86% | 40 | 5.23% |
| 1916 | 8 | 0.71% | 1,104 | 98.22% | 12 | 1.07% |
| 1920 | 43 | 4.51% | 905 | 94.96% | 5 | 0.52% |
| 1924 | 34 | 2.35% | 1,415 | 97.65% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1928 | 180 | 11.96% | 1,325 | 88.04% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1932 | 52 | 3.27% | 1,536 | 96.60% | 2 | 0.13% |
| 1936 | 54 | 2.78% | 1,884 | 97.06% | 3 | 0.15% |
| 1940 | 35 | 1.63% | 2,110 | 98.09% | 6 | 0.28% |
| 1944 | 98 | 3.96% | 2,374 | 96.04% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1948 | 23 | 0.83% | 57 | 2.07% | 2,679 | 97.10% |
| 1952 | 1,545 | 42.66% | 2,077 | 57.34% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1956 | 556 | 18.00% | 1,537 | 49.76% | 996 | 32.24% |
| 1960 | 818 | 17.11% | 850 | 17.77% | 3,114 | 65.12% |
| 1964 | 7,541 | 95.78% | 332 | 4.22% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1968 | 1,124 | 9.12% | 1,975 | 16.03% | 9,224 | 74.85% |
| 1972 | 12,187 | 85.19% | 1,913 | 13.37% | 205 | 1.43% |
| 1976 | 11,507 | 60.95% | 6,937 | 36.75% | 434 | 2.30% |
| 1980 | 16,650 | 66.25% | 8,047 | 32.02% | 435 | 1.73% |
| 1984 | 22,393 | 79.10% | 5,874 | 20.75% | 41 | 0.14% |
| 1988 | 22,937 | 78.41% | 6,201 | 21.20% | 116 | 0.40% |
| 1992 | 24,537 | 67.76% | 8,155 | 22.52% | 3,518 | 9.72% |
| 1996 | 24,585 | 69.40% | 8,614 | 24.32% | 2,224 | 6.28% |
| 2000 | 32,983 | 79.60% | 8,050 | 19.43% | 402 | 0.97% |
| 2004 | 43,054 | 78.67% | 11,005 | 20.11% | 667 | 1.22% |
| 2008 | 48,140 | 76.20% | 14,372 | 22.75% | 665 | 1.05% |
| 2012 | 48,444 | 75.52% | 14,988 | 23.37% | 713 | 1.11% |
| 2016 | 47,178 | 74.76% | 14,110 | 22.36% | 1,822 | 2.89% |
| 2020 | 50,895 | 71.89% | 18,847 | 26.62% | 1,057 | 1.49% |
| 2024 | 50,896 | 72.83% | 18,060 | 25.84% | 931 | 1.33% |
Pearl Public School District andRankin County School District are the two public school districts located in the county. The former serves the Pearl city limits, and the latter serves all other areas in Rankin County.[34]
Private schools located in the county areHartfield Academy in Flowood,Jackson Preparatory School in Flowood,Park Place Christian Academy in Pearl,East Rankin Academy in Pelahatchie, andDiscovery Christian School in Florence.
Rankin County is also home ofHinds Community College.[35] The college operates a Rankin Campus in Pearl.[36]
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)[...]located in the Hinds Community College District (Hinds, Rankin, Warren, Claiborne, and Copiah counties)[...]
Places adjacent to Rankin County, Mississippi | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ||||||||||||||||
Municipalities and communities ofRankin County, Mississippi,United States | ||
|---|---|---|
| Cities |  | |
| Towns | ||
| Village | ||
| CDPs | ||
| Unincorporated communities | ||
| Ghost towns | ||
| Footnotes | ‡This populated place also has portions in an adjacent county or counties | |
32°16′N89°57′W / 32.26°N 89.95°W /32.26; -89.95
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Geographic | |
| Other | |
