Knott County, Kentucky

Knott County is a county in Kentucky, United States, about 130 miles southeast of Lexington in
the state’s eastern coal-belt hills. It had a population of 14,251 at the 2020 census, an
estimated 13,830 by 2024, and covers 353 square miles (914 km2) centred near 37°21′N 82°57′W.

Hindman is the county seat; its postal code is 41822. The county holds 2 incorporated cities
and 36 unincorporated communities, and it runs on Eastern Time. Its FIPS code is 21119.

Towns & Villages in Knott County

Knott County has 38 named places on record: Hindman and Pippa Passes are incorporated
cities, and 36 are unincorporated communities with no local government of their own and, in
most cases, no separately tracked census population. CDP stands for census designated place;
Unincorp. covers crossroads and rural communities with no formal boundary.

Two entries on this list straddle county lines. Dema sits mostly in neighboring Perry
County, with only its western edge reaching into Knott. Vicco, a small home-rule city, has most
of its territory and population in Perry County too, with just a slice of its boundary crossing
into Knott — neither place’s population is counted toward Knott County above.

Sixteen names that appeared on this page’s earlier list — Amburgey, Amelia, Bolyn,
Brinkley, Carr Creek, Cordia, Decoy, Drew, Dry Creek, Hall, Larkslane, May, Nealy, Odgen Gap,
Omaha and Puncheon — could not be confirmed against Knott County’s current community
list and have been dropped rather than published unverified; see the notes for this page.

ZIP Codes

• 41822 — Hindman
• 41844 — Pippa Passes
• 41725 — Carrie
• 41740 — Emmalena
• 41743 — Fisty
• 41759 — Sassafras
• 41772 — Vest
• 41817 — Garner
• 41828 — Kite
• 41831 — Leburn
• 41834 — Littcarr
• 41836 — Mallie
• 41839 — Mousie
• 41843 — Pine Top
• 41847 — Redfox
• 41859 — Dema
• 41861 — Raven
• 41862 — Topmost

Anco, Bath, Bearville, Betty, Breeding Creek, Elic, Elmrock, Handshoe, Hollybush, Indian
Grave, Irishmans, Jones Fork, Ritchie, Slone Fork, Soft Shell, Spider, Talcum, Tina and the
Knott County side of Vicco have no ZIP code of their own; mail there is delivered under a
neighboring post office town’s code.

Geography

Knott County sits in the Cumberland Plateau of eastern Kentucky, a rugged, deeply folded
coalfield landscape with almost no flat ground outside the narrow creek bottoms. Of its 353
square miles, 352 are land and 1.3 are water, well under 1 percent — the county has no
natural lake of any size, and its surface water is almost entirely the North Fork Kentucky
River, Troublesome Creek and Carr Fork, which cut the hollows that most of the county’s
settlements sit along. Carr Fork Lake, a Army Corps of Engineers reservoir on Carr Fork near
Sassafras, is the county’s largest body of water.

Magoffin and Floyd counties lie to the north, Pike County to the east, Letcher County to the
southeast, Perry County to the south, and Breathitt County to the west. Magoffin County, Floyd County, Pike County, Letcher County, Perry County and Breathitt County all border Knott
directly.

Demographics

Knott County had a population of 14,251 at the 2020 census, down from a peak of 20,320 in
the 1940s as the coal industry mechanized and out-migration accelerated, and the latest
estimate puts the county near 13,830 residents. Hindman and Pippa Passes are the only two
communities with their own tracked census counts, at 701 and 468 respectively; nearly all other
residents live in unincorporated hollows and hillside settlements the Census Bureau does not
report separately. Median household income runs $41,761, well below Kentucky’s statewide
figure of $61,100, and about 23.3 percent of county residents live below the poverty line.
Population density works out to roughly 40 people per square mile of land, sparse even by
Appalachian Kentucky standards.

Economy & Local Life

Health care and social assistance is now the county’s largest employment sector, with
about 1,031 workers, followed by educational services at 702 and retail trade at 567, out of
roughly 4,403 total employed residents. Coal mining, once the county’s dominant industry
through companies including Alpha Natural Resources and James River Coal Company, has declined
sharply along with Central Appalachian coal production generally. Alice Lloyd College, a
four-year liberal arts college in Pippa Passes founded in 1923 as Caney Creek Junior College,
is a major local employer and the county’s only college. The Hindman Settlement School, in
Hindman, was America’s first rural settlement school when it opened in 1902 and now runs
literary and craft programs. The county’s biggest annual event is the Appalachian Writers’
Workshop, a week-long residency for published and unpublished writers hosted by the Hindman
Settlement School each July.

History

The Kentucky General Assembly created Knott County in 1884, carving it from parts of
Breathitt, Floyd, Letcher and Perry counties. It was named for James Proctor Knott, who was
serving as governor of Kentucky at the time. Hindman was established the same year to serve as
county seat and formally incorporated on 23 March 1886, named for James Hindman, then the
state’s lieutenant governor. The county’s second courthouse, built in the 1890s, burned
down in 1929.

On 28 and 29 July 2022, record flooding on Troublesome Creek and the North Fork Kentucky
River devastated the county, with additional flooding on 1 August. Knott County recorded 17
direct deaths, the highest death toll of any county in the flood disaster. Nearly every
building in downtown Hindman took flood damage, including the Hindman Settlement School and the
Appalachian Artisan Center, and Pippa Passes and Alice Lloyd College also sustained major
damage.

Getting There

No interstate highway crosses Knott County. KY 15, KY 80, KY 550 and KY 160 are the main
routes through the county, with KY 80 (the Hal Rogers Parkway) providing the fastest link
toward the interstate system.

• Hazard — about 20 miles southwest
• Prestonsburg — about 25 miles northeast
• Whitesburg — about 25 miles southeast
• Pikeville — about 35 miles east

Hazard’s Hazard/Perry County Airport, roughly 20 miles southwest of Hindman, is the nearest
general-aviation field with paved runway service. The closest full commercial airport is
Blue Grass Airport in Lexington, about 130 miles northwest. Amtrak does not serve eastern
Kentucky; the nearest station is in Charleston, West Virginia, more than 100 miles away.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Knott County located?
It sits in the Cumberland Plateau of eastern Kentucky, about 20 miles northeast of Hazard,
bordered by Magoffin, Floyd, Pike, Letcher, Perry and Breathitt counties.

What is the population of Knott County?
14,251 at the 2020 census, with an estimate near 13,830 by 2024.

How big is Knott County?
353 square miles (914 km2), of which 352 square miles are land.

What is the county seat of Knott County?
Hindman, incorporated in 1886, is the county seat.

How many towns and villages are in Knott County?
Two incorporated cities, Hindman and Pippa Passes, plus 36 unincorporated communities
including Emmalena, Kite, Leburn, Mousie and Redfox.

What ZIP codes does Knott County use?
18 ZIP codes, led by 41822 for Hindman and 41844 for Pippa Passes, with the rest serving
smaller communities such as Vest, Topmost and Sassafras.

What is Knott County known for?
The Hindman Settlement School, America’s first rural settlement school and host of the
annual Appalachian Writers’ Workshop, and Alice Lloyd College in Pippa Passes.

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