Bolivar County, Mississippi

Bolivar County is a county in Mississippi, United States, on the state’s western border along the
Mississippi River. It had a population of 30,985 at the 2020 census, an estimated 28,262 by 2025, and
covers 906 square miles (2,350 km2) centred near 33°48′N 90°53′W.

Cleveland is the county seat, one of two seats along with Rosedale; Cleveland is the larger of the pair
and its postal code is 38732. The county holds 5 cities, 10 incorporated towns, 4 census-designated places and 15 smaller
unincorporated communities, and it runs on Central Time. Its FIPS code is 28011.

Towns & Villages in Bolivar County

Bolivar County has 34 named places on record: 15 incorporated cities and towns, 4 census-designated
places (CDPs) and 15 unincorporated communities with no local government of their own. CDP stands for
census designated place; Unincorp. covers crossroads and rural communities with no formal boundary.

Bolivar County has two county seats, an arrangement dating to an 1870s split between the river towns and
the interior — Rosedale keeps the older Mississippi River-facing courthouse while Cleveland, inland on
the Illinois Central line, grew into the county’s largest city. Shaw straddles the county line: most of
its 1,457 residents live in Bolivar, but the town limits extend a short distance east into Sunflower
County. Skene and Boyle share the ZIP code 38730, both served out of the Boyle post office; Symonds and
Rosedale likewise share 38769.

Geography

Bolivar County sits entirely within the Mississippi Delta, the flat alluvial plain built up by
centuries of river flooding between the Mississippi and Yazoo rivers. Of its 906 square miles, 877 are
land and 29 are water, about 3.2 percent — mostly oxbow lakes left behind as the Mississippi River
shifted course, plus a long frontage on the river itself, which forms the county’s entire western
edge. It is Mississippi’s second-largest county by land area and fourth-largest by total area. The
terrain is uniformly flat, given over almost entirely to row-crop farmland, with no hills or natural
elevation of note.

Coahoma County lies to the north, Sunflower County to the east, Washington County to the south, and
Desha County, Arkansas, across the river to the west. Coahoma County, Sunflower County and Washington County all border
Bolivar directly; Desha County lies across the Mississippi River in Arkansas and has no bridge crossing
within Bolivar County.

Demographics

Bolivar County had a population of 30,985 at the 2020 census, down sharply from a 1930 peak above
70,000, and the latest estimate puts the county near 28,262 residents — a decline driven by
farm mechanization and out-migration that has run for decades. Cleveland and Shelby are the two largest
communities, together holding more than 40 percent of the county’s population. Median household
income runs about $39,585 (2024 estimate), well below Mississippi’s statewide figure of $54,203
(2023 ACS). Population density works out to roughly 35 people per square mile of land, low even for the
rural Delta, reflecting the long decline from the county’s cotton-plantation-era population highs.

Economy & Local Life

Health care and social assistance employs the most workers in the county, about 1,517 people, followed
by educational services at 1,385 and retail trade at 1,353. Delta State University, in Cleveland, is the
county’s largest single employer and anchors its educational-services sector; Cleveland also hosts
Bolivar Medical Center and the GRAMMY Museum Mississippi, the first Grammy Museum built outside Los
Angeles. Farming remains central to the county’s economy, with soybeans, corn and rice now dominant
on land that grew almost exclusively cotton through the mid-20th century. Mound Bayou, founded in 1887 by
Isaiah T. Montgomery and Benjamin T. Green as a self-governed Black settlement, still runs its own
institutions and draws visitors for its history. The county’s best-known annual event is the Delta
Blues Symposium, held on the Delta State University campus in Cleveland each spring.

History

The Mississippi Legislature created Bolivar County on 9 February 1836, naming it for Simón
Bolívar, the South American independence leader. The county developed as prime cotton land,
worked before the Civil War almost entirely by enslaved labor; after emancipation it drew large numbers
of freed African Americans as sharecroppers and, later, as landowners.

Mound Bayou, founded in 1887 on former plantation land by Isaiah T. Montgomery and Benjamin T. Green,
became one of the country’s most prominent all-Black towns, running its own newspapers, banks,
insurance companies and a hospital; Theodore Roosevelt visited in 1908 and Booker T. Washington called it
proof of what Black self-government could achieve. The county was also the site of documented racial
violence, including 18 recorded lynchings between 1877 and 1950, and later became a center of civil
rights organizing during the 1950s and 1960s Delta voter-registration campaigns.

Getting There

U.S. Route 61 runs the length of the county north to south; Mississippi Highways 1, 8 and 32 cross it,
and a future extension of Interstate 69 is planned through the county. No interstate currently crosses
Bolivar County.

• Greenville, Mississippi — about 25 miles south
• Clarksdale — about 35 miles north
• Indianola — about 20 miles east
• Greenwood — about 45 miles east

Cleveland Municipal Airport, about two miles northwest of downtown Cleveland, handles general aviation
only, with no scheduled airline service. Greenville Mid-Delta Airport, roughly 25 miles south in
Washington County, offers Essential Air Service flights to Atlanta and Dallas/Fort Worth. Bolivar County
has no Amtrak station; the nearest passenger rail service runs through cities well outside the Delta.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Bolivar County located?
It sits in the Mississippi Delta on the state’s western border, along the Mississippi River, about
25 miles north of Greenville.

What is the population of Bolivar County?
30,985 at the 2020 census, with a 2025 estimate near 28,262.

How big is Bolivar County?
906 square miles (2,350 km2), of which 877 square miles are land — Mississippi’s
second-largest county by land area.

What is the county seat of Bolivar County?
Bolivar County has two seats, Cleveland and Rosedale; Cleveland, home to Delta State University, is the
larger of the two.

How many towns and cities are in Bolivar County?
Fifteen incorporated places — Cleveland, Shelby, Rosedale, Mound Bayou, Shaw, Renova, Boyle,
Merigold, Benoit, Gunnison, Duncan, Beulah, Pace, Winstonville and Alligator — plus four
census-designated places and 15 unincorporated communities.

What ZIP codes does Bolivar County use?
38732 and 38733 for Cleveland, 38769 for Rosedale, 38762 for Mound Bayou, 38774 for Shelby and 38773
for Shaw, with separate codes for each of the smaller towns.

What is Bolivar County known for?
Mound Bayou, one of the nation’s most prominent Black-founded towns, and Cleveland’s Delta
State University and GRAMMY Museum Mississippi.

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