Mason County is a county in Kentucky, United States, on the Ohio River about 65 miles northwest of Lexington. It had a population of 17,120 at the 2020 census, an estimated 16,936 by 2024, and covers 246 square miles (640 km2) centred near 38°36′N 83°50′W.
Maysville is the county seat and the county’s largest city; its postal code is 41056. The county holds 4 incorporated cities, 1 census-designated place and 6 unincorporated communities, and it runs on Eastern Time. Its FIPS code is 21159.
Towns & Villages in Mason County
Mason County has 11 named places on record: 4 incorporated cities, 1 census-designated place (CDP) and 6 unincorporated communities with no local government of their own. Kentucky has no civil townships, so places here are organized directly under the county.
| Place | Type | Pop. | ZIP |
|---|---|---|---|
| Maysville | City · seat | 8,873 | 41056 |
| Dover | City | 221 | 41034 |
| Mays Lick | CDP | 252 | 41055 |
| Sardis | City | 60 | 41056 |
| Germantown | City | 146 | 41044 |
| Minerva | Unincorp. | — | 41062 |
| Orangeburg | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Shannon | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Fernleaf | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Helena | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Somo | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Weedonia | Unincorp. | — | — |
Sardis shares Maysville’s 41056 ZIP code rather than carrying its own. The old list on this page previously named “Old Washington” as a separate community; it is not one. Washington was Mason County’s original county seat from 1788 until Maysville took over in 1848, but Maysville annexed the old town outright in 1990, and its log-cabin core now stands inside Maysville’s city limits as the Washington Historic District, not a place of its own. Several other names on the old list — Country Club Heights, Lewisburg, Marshall, Moranburg, Mount Gilead, Murphysville, Plumville, Rectorville, South Ripley and Springdale — could not be confirmed against a current source and are omitted here rather than guessed.
ZIP Codes
- 41056 — Maysville (also covers Sardis)
- 41096 — Maysville (a second Maysville ZIP)
- 41034 — Dover
- 41044 — Germantown
- 41055 — Mays Lick
- 41062 — Minerva
Orangeburg, Shannon, Fernleaf, Helena, Somo and Weedonia have no ZIP code of their own; mail to those communities is delivered under a neighboring town’s code.
Geography
Mason County sits in the Outer Bluegrass region of northeastern Kentucky, where rolling farmland breaks into steep, wooded bluffs along the Ohio River. Of its 246 square miles, about 240 are land and 6.3 are water, roughly 2.6 percent — a share driven almost entirely by the Ohio River, which forms the county’s entire northern border with Ohio.
Lewis County lies to the east, Fleming County to the south, Robertson County to the southwest and Bracken County to the west. Across the Ohio River to the north are Brown County and Adams County, Ohio. Lewis County, Fleming County, Robertson County, Bracken County, Brown County and Adams County all border Mason directly.
Demographics
Mason County had a population of 17,120 at the 2020 census, and the latest estimate puts the county near 16,936 residents, a slight decline. Maysville and Mays Lick are the two largest communities, with Maysville alone accounting for roughly half the county’s population. Median household income runs about $52,178, well below Kentucky’s statewide figure of $61,118 (2023 ACS). Population density works out to roughly 71 people per square mile of land, low even by rural Kentucky standards outside Maysville itself.
Economy & Local Life
Health care and social assistance is the county’s largest employment sector, with about 1,357 workers, followed by manufacturing at 1,284 and retail trade at 1,006. Maysville Community and Technical College anchors the county’s education and workforce training. CSX Transportation operates freight rail through the county on lines it acquired from the former Maysville & Lexington Railroad. Maysville was once one of the largest tobacco auction markets in the country and a center of wrought-iron manufacture, shipping ironwork downriver to Cincinnati and New Orleans; manufacturing remains part of the modern economy, though tobacco auctioning has ended. The Ledger Independent, published five days a week, is the county’s newspaper of record, alongside radio stations WFTM-AM and WFTM-FM. Maysville hosts the Rosemary Clooney Music Festival each summer, honoring the singer and Maysville native, founded in 1999.
History
Simon Kenton established the first settlement at what became Maysville in 1775. Mason County itself was formed in 1788 from Bourbon County, Virginia, and named for George Mason, a Virginia delegate to the U.S. Constitutional Convention known as the “Father of the Bill of Rights.” Washington, founded in 1786 by Revolutionary War veterans Arthur Fox and William Wood, served as the original county seat and was, by the 1790 census, the second-largest town in what became Kentucky. Maysville, growing on the strength of its Ohio River landing, replaced Washington as county seat in 1848.
Washington carries one of the county’s most consequential historical episodes: in 1833 Harriet Beecher Stowe visited and witnessed a slave auction in front of the old courthouse, an experience that shaped her writing of Uncle Tom’s Cabin. The town was also the site of the legal case of Thornton Blackburn, an escaped slave whose flight helped establish that fugitive slaves reaching Canada could not be extradited back to bondage. Confederate general Albert Sidney Johnston was born in Washington in 1803. Washington was annexed into Maysville in 1990.
Getting There
No interstate highway crosses Mason County. U.S. Routes 62 and 68 and Kentucky Routes 8, 9, 10 and 11 carry most through traffic, along with two bridges linking Maysville to Ohio: the Simon Kenton Memorial Bridge, opened in 1931, and the William H. Harsha Bridge, opened in 2001.
- Cincinnati, Ohio — about 65 miles northwest
- Lexington — about 66 miles southwest
- Ripley, Ohio — directly across the Ohio River from Dover
Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, about 65 miles northwest of Maysville, is the nearest major commercial airport. Amtrak’s thrice-weekly Cardinal train does not stop in Mason County; the nearest station is Cincinnati Union Terminal, roughly 65 miles northwest.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Mason County located?
It sits in northeastern Kentucky on the Ohio River, about 65 miles northwest of Lexington, bordered by Lewis, Fleming, Robertson and Bracken counties in Kentucky and Brown and Adams counties across the river in Ohio.
What is the population of Mason County?
17,120 at the 2020 census, with a 2024 estimate near 16,936.
How big is Mason County?
246 square miles (640 km2), of which about 240 square miles are land.
What is the county seat of Mason County?
Maysville, county seat since 1848, when it replaced the original seat at Washington.
How many towns and cities are in Mason County?
Four incorporated cities — Maysville, Dover, Germantown and Sardis — plus the census-designated place of Mays Lick and six unincorporated communities: Minerva, Orangeburg, Shannon, Fernleaf, Helena, Somo and Weedonia.
What ZIP codes does Mason County use?
41056 and 41096 for Maysville (41056 also covers Sardis), 41034 for Dover, 41044 for Germantown, 41055 for Mays Lick and 41062 for Minerva.
What is Mason County known for?
The Washington Historic District, where Harriet Beecher Stowe witnessed a slave auction in 1833, and Maysville, birthplace of singer Rosemary Clooney and once home to one of the country’s largest tobacco auction markets.
More counties in this state: Towns and villages in Kentucky.