Bartholomew County, Indiana

Bartholomew County is a county in Indiana, United States, about 40 miles south of Indianapolis.
It had a population of 82,208 at the 2020 census, an estimated 85,729 by 2025, and covers 406.91
square miles (1,053.9 km2) centred near 39°13′N 85°54′W.

Columbus is the county seat and the county’s only incorporated city; its postal code is 47201.
The county holds 1 city, 6 incorporated towns, 2 census-designated places and 23 unincorporated
communities across 12 townships, and it runs on Eastern Time. Its FIPS code is 18005.

Towns & Villages in Bartholomew County

Bartholomew County has 32 named places on record: one city, six towns, two census-designated
places (CDPs) and 23 unincorporated communities with no local government of their own. CDP means
census-designated place, a Census Bureau statistical area with no city or town government;
Unincorp. covers crossroads and rural communities with no formal boundary at all.

Two names on this list are easy to mix up with something else entirely. Kansas, once a
platted town in the county, is now extinct — it is not a reference to the state, and no
current place carries the name. Edinburgh straddles three counties at once; its population and
ZIP code are counted under Johnson County, where most of the town and its own post office sit, so
this table lists it without population or ZIP figures rather than assign it Bartholomew’s
share.

Townships

ZIP Codes

• 47201 — Columbus (downtown and the county government center)
• 47202 — Columbus (post office box ZIP)
• 47203 — Columbus (south side)
• 47246 — Hope
• 47280 — Taylorsville
• 47232 — Elizabethtown
• 47244 — Hartsville
• 47226 — Clifford
• 47247 — Jonesville

Pleasant View Village and the county’s 23 unincorporated communities have no ZIP code of
their own; mail there is delivered under the nearest incorporated town’s code. Edinburgh’s
residential ZIP, 46124, is administered from Johnson County and is not counted among Bartholomew
County’s own codes.

Geography

Bartholomew County sits in south-central Indiana’s till plains, a landscape of gently
rolling farmland cut by the East Fork White River, which forms from the confluence of the
Flatrock and Driftwood rivers at Columbus. Of the county’s 409.52 square miles, 406.91 are
land and 2.62 are water, about 0.64 percent — low, since the county has no large natural
lake; Grandview Lake, an artificial reservoir near Elizabethtown, is the largest body of standing
water. Camp Atterbury, an Indiana National Guard training post, occupies the county’s
northwestern corner, shared with Johnson and Brown counties.

Johnson County lies to the north, Shelby County to the northeast, Decatur County to the east,
Jennings County to the southeast, Jackson County to the south, and Brown County to the west.
Johnson County,
Shelby County,
Decatur County,
Jennings County,
Jackson County and
Brown County all border
Bartholomew directly.

Demographics

Bartholomew County had a population of 82,208 at the 2020 census, and the latest estimate puts
the county near 85,729 residents. Columbus and Hope are the two largest communities, with
Columbus alone holding well over half the county’s population. Median household income runs
$79,901, notably higher than Indiana’s statewide figure of $69,477. Population density works
out to roughly 202 people per square mile of land, concentrated heavily around Columbus, since
several rural townships hold under 2,000 residents each.

Economy & Local Life

Manufacturing employs the most workers in the county, about 12,301 people, followed by health
care and social assistance at 4,946 and retail trade at 4,262. Cummins Inc., a diesel engine and
power-systems manufacturer founded in Columbus in 1919, is by far the county’s largest
employer and still runs its global headquarters there. Toyota Material Handling also maintains
major North American operations in the county. Columbus is nationally known for mid-century
modern architecture underwritten by Cummins leadership starting in 1942; seven of its buildings
are National Historic Landmarks, and roughly 60 more were designed by architects including Eero
Saarinen, I. M. Pei and César Pelli. The county’s biggest annual event is Hope Heritage
Days, held every year on the last full weekend of September in the town square at Hope.

History

Indiana’s General Assembly formed Bartholomew County on 12 February 1821, naming it for
Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Bartholomew, who was wounded at the Battle of Tippecanoe in 1811. Miami,
Potawatomi and Shawnee peoples lived in the area before European settlement. Columbus was platted
soon after the county’s formation and became the county seat.

The United States Census Bureau calculated that Bartholomew County was the mean center of
population of the entire United States in 1900, a statistical distinction rather than a
geographic one. In the twentieth century, Cummins executive J. Irwin Miller began commissioning
noted architects to design Columbus’s schools, churches and public buildings, a program that
earned the city the nickname “Athens on the Prairie” and, decades later, sixth place
nationally for architectural innovation in a 1991 American Institute of Architects survey.

Getting There

Interstate 65 crosses the county’s northwestern corner near Taylorsville and Edinburgh. US
31 and State Roads 7, 9, 11, 46 and 58 also run through the county.

• Indianapolis — about 40 miles north
• Seymour — about 20 miles south
• Greensburg — about 25 miles east
• Franklin — about 25 miles north

Indianapolis International Airport, about 55 miles northwest of Columbus, is the nearest major
commercial airport. Columbus Municipal Airport handles general aviation and charter flights from
the north side of the city. The nearest Amtrak service is in Indianapolis, where the Cardinal line
calls a few times a week; Bartholomew County itself has no passenger rail station, though Columbus
has been proposed as a stop on a future Chicago–Indianapolis–Louisville corridor.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Bartholomew County located?
It sits in south-central Indiana, about 40 miles south of Indianapolis, bordered by Johnson,
Shelby, Decatur, Jennings, Jackson and Brown counties.

What is the population of Bartholomew County?
82,208 at the 2020 census, with an estimate near 85,729 by 2025.

How big is Bartholomew County?
409.52 square miles (1,060.7 km2) in total, of which 406.91 square miles (1,053.9 km2) are
land.

What is the county seat of Bartholomew County?
Columbus is the county seat and the county’s only incorporated city.

How many towns are in Bartholomew County?
Six incorporated towns — Clifford, Edinburgh (partly), Elizabethtown, Hartsville, Hope and
Jonesville — plus two census-designated places and 23 unincorporated communities.

What ZIP codes does Bartholomew County use?
47201, 47202 and 47203 for Columbus; 47246 for Hope; 47280 for Taylorsville; 47232 for
Elizabethtown; 47244 for Hartsville; 47226 for Clifford; and 47247 for Jonesville.

What is Bartholomew County known for?
Cummins Inc., headquartered in Columbus since 1919, and Columbus’s concentration of
mid-century modern architecture by architects including Eero Saarinen and I. M. Pei.

More counties in this state: Towns and villages in Indiana.