Polk County (Tennessee)
Polk County is a county located in the state of Tennessee in the United States. The administrative headquarters ( County Seat) is Benton.
Geography
The County is located in the extreme southeast of Tennessee, on the east by North Carolina, south to Georgia and has an area of 1146 square kilometers, of which 19 square kilometers are water surface. It is bordered clockwise to the following counties: Monroe County, Cherokee County ( North Carolina), Fannin County ( Georgia), Murray County ( Georgia), Bradley County and McMinn County. The Cherokee National Forest extends partially into the Polk County.
Towns and Citys
- Benton
- Copperhill
- Ducktown
Unincorporated communities
- Conasauga
- Delano
- Farner
- Harbuck
- Ocoee
- Oldfort
- Reliance
- Turtle Town
History
Polk County was formed on November 28, 1839, from parts of Bradley County and McMinn County. It was named after James K. Polk, the eleventh president of the United States.
Previously, he served as Governor of the State of Tennessee ( 1839-1841 ) and Speaker of the House ( 1835-1839 ). Polk was a member of the Democratic Party.
Demographic data
2000
According to the census in 2000, lived in Polk County 16,050 people in 6,448 households and 4,752 families. The population density was 14 people per square kilometer. The racial the population was made up of 98.35 percent White, 0.14 percent African American, 0.27 percent Native American, 0.12 percent Asian, 0.02 percent of residents from the Pacific Islander, and 0.09 percent from other races groups; 1.01 percent were descended from two or more races. 0.73 percent of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.
Of the 6,448 households out of which 29.8 percent have children under the age of 18 living with them. 60.3 percent were married couples living together, 9.0 percent were single mothers and 26.3 percent were non-families. 23.3 percent of all households and 9.8 percent lived in persons aged 65 years or older. The average household size was 2.46 and the average household size was 2.89 people.
22.6 percent of the population were under 18 years old, 8.2 percent between 18 to 24, 28.5 percent between 25 and 44, 26.4 percent between 45 and 64 and 14.3 percent were older than 65, the average age was 39 years. For every 100 females there were 98.3 males statistically every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 95.8 males.
The median income for a household was $ 29,643, and the median income for a family was $ 36,370. Males have a median income of $ 27,703, women $ 21,010. The per capita income was $ 16,025. 9.7 percent of families and 13.0 percent of the population lived below the poverty line.