Vernon County, Missouri

Vernon County is a located in the  of. As of 2000, the population was 20,454. Its is. The county was organized in and named for Col., state senator, and veteran of the.

Geography
According to the, the county has a total area of 2,168 (837 ). 2,160 km² (834 sq mi) of it is land and 8 km² (3 sq mi) of it (0.37%) is water.

Adjacent counties

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Demographics
As of the of 2000, there were 20,454 people, 7,966 households, and 5,432 families residing in the county. The was 9/km² (24/sq mi). There were 8,872 housing units at an average density of 4/km² (11/sq mi). The racial makeup of the county was 96.99%, 0.61% or , 0.79% , 0.31% , 0.03% , 0.31% from , and 0.95% from two or more races. 0.84% of the population were or  of any race.

There were 7,966 households out of which 32.20% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 55.30% were living together, 9.60% had a female householder with no husband present, and 31.80% were non-families. 28.10% of all households were made up of individuals and 13.00% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.44 and the average family size was 2.97.

In the county the population was spread out with 26.60% under the age of 18, 9.20% from 18 to 24, 25.40% from 25 to 44, 22.50% from 45 to 64, and 16.30% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females there were 93.50 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 88.00 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $30,021, and the median income for a family was $37,714. Males had a median income of $28,182 versus $19,026 for females. The for the county was $15,047. About 10.10% of families and 14.90% of the population were below the, including 20.30% of those under age 18 and 13.30% of those age 65 or over.