Lincoln County, West Virginia



Lincoln County is located in the of. As of 2000, the population was 22,108. Its is. Lincoln County was created by an act of the on February 23,, from parts of , ,  and  counties. The county was named for. After the, there was an effort by former to rename the area "Davis County" after , but effort proved fruitless.

Jesse, John, David, William and Moses McComas were the first English settlers in Lincoln County. They cultivated 20 acres of corn, the first ever grown in the area, in 1799. Later that year, they returned to to get their families. Their families were initially left behind because it was not known if there were any in the area, or if the soil would be suitable for cultivation. John Lucas, William Hinch, and John Johnson soon joined the McComas' in the county. They built cabins in the county around 1800.

Lincoln County is part of the, with a 2004 population estimate of 307,763 people.

Geography
According to the, the county has a total area of 1,136 (439 ). 1,133 km² (437 sq mi) of it is land and 3 km² (1 sq mi) of it (0.26%) is water.

Major Highways

 * [[Image:US 119.svg|23px]]
 * [[Image:WV-3.svg|20px]]
 * [[Image:WV-10.svg|20px]]
 * [[Image:WV-34.svg|20px]]
 * [[Image:WV-37.svg|20px]]

Adjacent Counties

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Demographics
As of the of 2000, there were 22,108 people, 8,664 households, and 6,532 families residing in the county. The was 20/km² (50/sq mi). There were 9,846 housing units at an average density of 9/km² (22/sq mi). The racial makeup of the county was 99.04%, 0.06% or , 0.17% , 0.06% , 0.01% , 0.06% from , and 0.61% from two or more races. 0.55% of the population were or  of any race.

There were 8,664 households out of which 33.00% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 60.40% were living together, 10.80% had a female householder with no husband present, and 24.60% were non-families. 22.20% of all households were made up of individuals and 10.40% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.54 and the average family size was 2.94.

In the county, the population was spread out with 23.60% under the age of 18, 9.30% from 18 to 24, 29.10% from 25 to 44, 24.90% from 45 to 64, and 13.10% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females there were 97.20 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 96.00 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $22,662, and the median income for a family was $28,297. Males had a median income of $30,810 versus $18,270 for females. The for the county was $13,073. About 22.80% of families and 27.90% of the population were below the, including 37.60% of those under age 18 and 20.80% of those age 65 or over.

Cities and towns

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