Fayette County—originally Fayette County, Virginia—was established by the Virginia General Assembly in June 1780, when it abolished and subdivided Kentucky County into three counties: Fayette, Jefferson and Lincoln. Together, these counties and those set off from them later in that decade separated from Virginia in 1792 to become the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Originally, Fayette County included land which makes up 37 present-day counties and parts of 7 others. It was reduced to its present boundaries in 1799. The county is named for the Marquis de LaFayette, who came to America to support the rebelling English colonies in the American Revolutionary War. On January 1, 1974, Fayette County merged its government with that of its county seat of Lexington, creating a consolidated city-county governed by the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government.
Geography
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of, of which is land and is water.
As of the census of 2010, there were 295,803 people, 123,043 households, and 69,661 families residing in the county. The population density was 1,034 people per square mile. There were 135,160 housing units at an average density of 473 per square mile. The racial makeup of the county was 75.7% White, 14.5% Black or African American, 0.3% Native American, 3.2% Asian, 0.1% Pacific Islander, 3.7% from other races, and 2.5% from two or more races. 6.9% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. There were 123,043 households out of which 25.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 40.1% were married couples living together, 12.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 43.4% were non-families. 32.7% of all households were made up of individuals and 8.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.3 and the average family size was 2.94. In the county, the population was spread out with 21.2% under the age of 18, 5.9% from 18 to 21, and 62.4% from 21 to 65. 10.5% were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 33.7 years. 50.8% of the population was female. The median income for a household in the county was $47,469, and the median income for a family was $66,690. Males had a median income of $44,343 versus $35,716 for females. The per capita income for the county was $28,345. About 11.1% of families and 17.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 21.6% of those under age 18 and 8.6% of those age 65 or over.
Unlike almost all of the rest of Kentucky, Fayette County has trended towards the Democratic Party in recent years rather than away from them. Between 1968 and 2004 it voted for the Republican nominee in all but one election. However, since 1996, it has seen close results for the two parties. In 2008, Barack Obama became the first Democrat to win the county since Bill Clinton in 1996, and the first to Democrat to win a majority of its votes since Lyndon Johnson in 1964. In 2016, Hillary Clinton won the county by the biggest margin since LBJ, although it was one of only two counties in the entire Commonwealth to vote for her, the other being Jefferson County, home to the city of Louisville.
