Polk County, Missouri

Polk County is a located in the  of. As of 2000, the population was 26,992. Its is.

History
Polk County was organized and separated from on,. Its original boundaries were later reduced to set up, , and Counties. The name was suggested by a local pioneer, Ezekiel Campbell, to honor his grandfather who was a colonel in the  and an early settler in western Tennessee. But, when the legislature acted to create the county, they named it for another grandson,, who was the in the  at the time.

Geography
According to the, the county has a total area of 1,664 (642 ). 1,650 km² (637 sq mi) of it is land and 14 km² (5 sq mi) of it (0.82%) is water.

Adjacent counties

 * (north)
 * (east)
 * (south)
 * (southwest)
 * (west)
 * (northwest)

Major highways
Polk County is famous for its fried chicken at Norma's.

Demographics
As of the of 2000, there were 26,992 people, 9,917 households, and 7,140 families residing in the county. The was 16/km² (42/sq mi). There were 11,183 housing units at an average density of 7/km² (18/sq mi). The racial makeup of the county was 97.26%, 0.45% or , 0.67% , 0.19% , 0.03% , 0.33% from , and 1.06% from two or more races. 1.30% of the population were or  of any race.

There were 9,917 households out of which 33.00% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 60.50% were living together, 8.20% had a female householder with no husband present, and 28.00% were non-families. 23.20% of all households were made up of individuals and 10.70% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.56 and the average family size was 3.02.

In the county the population was spread out with 25.70% under the age of 18, 12.60% from 18 to 24, 25.50% from 25 to 44, 20.80% from 45 to 64, and 15.30% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35 years. For every 100 females there were 94.90 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 90.90 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $29,656, and the median income for a family was $35,843. Males had a median income of $25,383 versus $18,799 for females. The for the county was $13,645. About 11.10% of families and 16.30% of the population were below the, including 20.00% of those under age 18 and 12.00% of those age 65 or over.