New Madrid County, Missouri

New Madrid County (pronounced New MA-drid, short a as in "mad") is a located in the  of. The county was organized in and named for the district located in the region during, Nuevo Madrid, after ,. As of 2000, the population was 19,760. Its is.

History
A series of over one thousand earthquakes struck in the area in the early. The was the strongest earthquake in the, and may have registered 8.0 on the.

Geography
According to the, the county has a total area of 1,808 (698 ). 1,756 km² (678 sq mi) of it is land and 52 km² (20 sq mi) of it (2.87%) is water.

Adjacent counties

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

Demographics
As of the of 2000, there were 19,760 people, 7,824 households, and 5,508 families residing in the county. The was 11/km² (29/sq mi). There were 8,600 housing units at an average density of 5/km² (13/sq mi). The racial makeup of the county was 83.21%, 15.36% or , 0.19% , 0.14% , 0.01% , 0.32% from , and 0.78% from two or more races. 0.93% of the population were or  of any race. 32.4% were of, 10.3% , 8.8% and 8.7%  ancestry according to.

There were 7,824 households out of which 32.80% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 52.00% were living together, 14.60% had a female householder with no husband present, and 29.60% were non-families. 26.50% of all households were made up of individuals and 13.20% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.48 and the average family size was 2.99.

In the county the population was spread out with 26.40% under the age of 18, 8.50% from 18 to 24, 26.40% from 25 to 44, 23.20% from 45 to 64, and 15.50% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females there were 92.40 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 86.50 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $26,826, and the median income for a family was $32,462. Males had a median income of $28,408 versus $19,186 for females. The for the county was $14,204. About 18.60% of families and 22.10% of the population were below the, including 31.40% of those under age 18 and 19.20% of those age 65 or over.