Buchanan County, Virginia

Buchanan County is a located in the  &mdash; officially, "" &mdash; of. As of the, the population was 26,978. Its is.

History
The county was formed in from parts of  and. It was named for, 15th (1857-1861).

In the southwestern part of Buchanan County was combined with parts of Russell County and  to become.

Paul Crouse (born in ) is the longest serving sheriff of Buchanan County (from 1984-2004). After the elections, he was defeated by Republican candidate and current Sheriff Ray Foster. Crouse has retired from law enforcement and his record still stands.

Geography
According to the, the county has a total area of 1,305 (504 ). 1,305 km² (504 mi²) of it is land and 0 km² (0 mi²) of it (0.00%) is water.

Districts
The county is divided into seven supervisor districts: Garden, Hurricane, Knox, North Grundy, Prater, Rock Lick, and South Grundy.

Adjacent Counties

 * - north-northeast
 * - east
 * - southeast
 * - south
 * - southwest
 * - northwest

Demographics
As of the of 2000, there were 26,978 people, 10,464 households, and 7,900 families residing in the county. The was 21/km² (54/mi²). There were 11,887 housing units at an average density of 9/km² (24/mi²). The racial makeup of the county was 96.75%, 2.62% or , 0.06% , 0.14% , 0.10% from , and 0.33% from two or more races. 0.47% of the population were or  of any race.

There were 10,464 households out of which 30.60% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 60.90% were living together, 10.60% had a female householder with no husband present, and 24.50% were non-families. 22.50% of all households were made up of individuals and 9.40% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.46 and the average family size was 2.87.

In the county, the population was spread out with 21.40% under the age of 18, 8.50% from 18 to 24, 31.20% from 25 to 44, 27.50% from 45 to 64, and 11.50% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females there were 102.90 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 102.30 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $22,213, and the median income for a family was $27,328. Males had a median income of $29,540 versus $17,766 for females. The for the county was $12,788. About 19.80% of families and 23.20% of the population were below the, including 30.20% of those under age 18 and 16.90% of those age 65 or over.

Private Schools

 * Mountain Mission School,

Public High Schools

 * , Pilgrims Knob
 * , Council
 * , Council