Pickens County, Alabama

Pickens County is a of the  of. As of 2000, the population was 20,949. Its is, and it is a prohibition, or.

History
Pickens County was established on, , and named for hero General  of. The county seat was relocated from to  in. The first courthouse in Carrollton was burned on, by troops of  General. A second courthouse was also destroyed by fire on,. Though arson was suspected, no arrest was made until January, when , an with some criminal history was arrested and locked in the garett of the new building, which had been erected in. According to legend, Wells was peering down from the north garett window as a mob gathered to hang him. A bolt of lightning struck nearby and "etched" Wells' anguished face into the window glass. A vague image resembing a face can still be seen in that lower right-hand pane of that window. Also see: .

Geography
According to the, the county has a total area of 2,305 km² (890 square miles). Nearly 2,283 km² (881 sq mi) of it is land, and 22 km² (9 sq mi) of it (0.97%) is water.

Major Highways

 * [[Image:US 82.svg|20px]]
 * [[image:Alabama 14.svg|20px]]
 * [[image:Alabama 17.svg|20px]]
 * [[image:Alabama 32.svg|20px]]
 * [[image:Alabama 86.svg|20px]]

Adjacent Counties

 * (north)
 * (northeast)
 * (east)
 * (southeast)
 * (south)
 * (southwest)
 * (northwest)

Demographics
As of the of 2000, there were 20,949 people, 8,086 households, and 5,789 families residing in the county. The was 9/km² (24/sq mi). There were 9,520 housing units at an average density of 4/km² (11/sq mi). The racial makeup of the county was 55.95%, 42.96% or , 0.12% , 0.11% , 0.02% , 0.22% from , and 0.63% from two or more races. Nearly 0.70% of the population were or  of any race.

There were 8,086 households, out of which 32.60% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 49.80% were living together, 18.20% had a female householder with no husband present, and 28.40% were non-families. Nearly 26.40% of all households were made up of individuals, and 12.50% 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 3.11.

In the county, the population was spread out with 27.30% under the age of 18, 8.50% from 18 to 24, 25.80% from 25 to 44, 22.80% from 45 to 64, and 15.70% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females, there were 88.10 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 83.30 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $26,254, and the median income for a family was $32,938. Males had a median income of $28,843 versus $20,569 for females. The for the county was $13,746. About 20.10% of families and 24.90% of the population were below the, including 34.30% of those under age 18 and 22.30% of those age 65 or over.