US 421 serves as the county's north-south corridor, connecting it to Madison County in the north to the cities Richmond and Berea, with the south connecting the county to Clay County and its county seat, Manchester. The road is mostly a simple two-lane road with many curves. It passes through Tyner, McKee and Sand Gap. KY 30 serves as an east-west corridor, passing through the southern part of the county as a newly renovated highway, completed in 2010. It connects the county to Laurel County to the west, and Owsley County to the east. Although the newly renovated highway currently stops in Tyner, the highway is expected to be completely renovated through the county by 2022, making the entirety of the road a standard highway allowing people from Owsley County to get to Laurel County more easily. Currently, the road bypasses Annville, and passes through Tyner.
As of the census of 2000, there were 13,495 people, 5,307 households, and 3,953 families residing in the county. The population density was. There were 6,065 housing units at an average density of. The racial makeup of the county was 99.17% White, 0.05% Black or African American, 0.19% Native American, 0.01% Asian, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 0.04% from other races, and 0.52% from two or more races. 0.53% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. There were 5,307 households out of which 35.50% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 60.20% were married couples living together, 10.30% had a female householder with no husband present, and 25.50% were non-families. 23.00% of all households were made up of individuals and 9.30% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.52 and the average family size was 2.96. In the county, the population was spread out with 26.10% under the age of 18, 9.80% from 18 to 24, 29.40% from 25 to 44, 22.90% from 45 to 64, and 11.80% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35 years. For every 100 females there were 97.30 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 95.20 males. The median income for a household in the county was $20,177, and the median income for a family was $23,638. Males had a median income of $25,087 versus $16,065 for females. The per capita income for the county was $10,711. About 25.80% of families and 30.20% of the population were below the poverty line, including 36.50% of those under age 18 and 24.10% of those age 65 or over.
In presidential elections Jackson County has voted Republican since the Civil War. No Democratic presidential candidate has ever received 30 percent of the county's vote and only Lyndon Johnson in his national landslide of 1964, and Bill Clinton in 1996, have received so much as 20 percent. The only times Jackson County has not voted for the Republican Party were in its first election of 1860 when the county went to Constitutional UnionistJohn Bell, and in 1912 when the Republican Party was split and Theodore Roosevelt carried the county with 52 percent of the vote over William Howard Taft with 34 percent. In 1936 Alf Landon, who lost 46 of 48 states, received over 89 percent of Jackson County's vote. The county also gave the Republican candidate the highest percentage in the 1928, 1948, 1960, 1976, 1988, and 1992 presidential elections. In 1992 Jackson County, along with Sioux County, Iowa, were the only two counties in the U.S to vote for George H. W. Bush by over 70 percent in his re-election campaign. Jackson County is part of Kentucky's 5th congressional district, which has a Cook Partisan Voting Index of R+31 and is represented by Republican Hal Rogers. In the Kentucky House of Representatives it is in the 89th District and has been represented by Republican Robert Goforth since 2018. In the Kentucky Senate it is in the 21st District and was represented by Republican Tom Jensen until he retired in 2012. In the 2012 election, Albert Robinson was elected to represent the 21st District. Robinson is a London, KY businessman.
Education
One public school district, Jackson County Public Schools, serves K-12 students in the county. In the county, there are three public elementary schools that serve students from preschool to grade 5. The most populated of these is McKee Elementary, and the least populated being Sand Gap Elementary.
