Ross County is a county in Ohio, United States, about 45 miles south of Columbus. It had a population of 77,093 at the 2020 census, an estimated 76,429 by 2025, and covers 693.03 square miles (1,794.9 km2) — 689.19 square miles of land, centred near 39°20′N 83°04′W.
Chillicothe is the county seat and the county’s only city; its postal code is 45601. The county holds 1 city, 6 incorporated villages and 39 smaller communities across 16 townships, and it runs on Eastern Time. Its FIPS code is 39141.
Towns & Villages in Ross County
Ross County has 46 named places on record: 7 incorporated (1 city and 6 villages) and 39 unincorporated communities, one of which, Bourneville, is also a census-designated place (CDP) with its own population count. Unincorp. covers crossroads and rural hamlets with no formal boundary or local government.
| Place | Type | Township | Pop. | ZIP |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chillicothe | City · seat | Scioto | 22,059 | 45601 |
| Kingston | Village | Green | 1,262 | 45644 |
| Frankfort | Village | Concord | 1,084 | 45628 |
| Bainbridge | Village | Paxton | 765 | 45612 |
| Clarksburg | Village | Deerfield | 409 | 43115 |
| Adelphi | Village | Colerain | 322 | 43101 |
| South Salem | Village | Buckskin | 219 | 45681 |
Beyond the seven incorporated places, 39 more named communities appear on county and Census Bureau gazetteers, none with its own municipal government. Bourneville is the only one counted separately by the Census Bureau as a CDP; the rest are crossroads hamlets with population folded into their township’s total.
| Place | Type | Township | Pop. | ZIP |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bourneville | CDP | Twin | 241 | 45617 |
| Alma | Unincorp. | — | — | — |
| Anderson | Unincorp. | — | — | — |
| Austin | Unincorp. | — | — | — |
| Brownsville | Unincorp. | — | — | — |
| Denver | Unincorp. | — | — | — |
| Fruitdale | Unincorp. | — | — | — |
| Greenland | Unincorp. | — | — | — |
| Hallsville | Unincorp. | Colerain | — | — |
| Harper | Unincorp. | — | — | — |
| Higby | Unincorp. | — | — | — |
| Hopetown | Unincorp. | — | — | — |
| Humboldt | Unincorp. | — | — | — |
| Ingham | Unincorp. | — | — | — |
| Kinnikinnick | Unincorp. | — | — | — |
| Knockemstiff | Ghost town | — | — | — |
| Lattaville | Unincorp. | — | — | — |
| Lickskillet | Unincorp. | — | — | — |
| Londonderry | Unincorp. | — | — | — |
| Lyndon | Unincorp. | — | — | — |
| Metzger | Unincorp. | — | — | — |
| Mooresville | Unincorp. | — | — | — |
| Musselman | Unincorp. | — | — | — |
| Nipgen | Unincorp. | — | — | — |
| North Fork Village | Unincorp. | — | — | — |
| Pleasant Grove | Unincorp. | — | — | — |
| Pleasant Valley | Unincorp. | — | — | — |
| Pride | Unincorp. | — | — | — |
| Renick | Unincorp. | — | — | — |
| Renick Junction | Unincorp. | — | — | — |
| Roxabell | Unincorp. | — | — | — |
| Schooley | Unincorp. | — | — | — |
| Slate Mills | Unincorp. | — | — | — |
| Spargursville | Unincorp. | — | — | — |
| Storms | Unincorp. | — | — | — |
| Summithill | Unincorp. | — | — | — |
| Tucson | Unincorp. | — | — | — |
| Vigo | Unincorp. | — | — | — |
| Yellowbud | Unincorp. | — | — | — |
Knockemstiff, once a scattered community along Black Run in the county’s southwest, is now a ghost town — it survives mainly as the title and setting of Donald Ray Pollock’s 2008 short-story collection. The county’s old scrape list previously named several dozen places with no independent record on the Census Bureau or county gazetteer — among them Andersonville, Belleview Heights, Bourneville-area “Brewer Heights,” Carey, Deadman Crossing, Delano, Dills, Harris, Jarvis, Maple Grove, Massieville, Minnehan Bend, Randall Terrace, Richmond Dale, Rittenours, Rupels, Schrader, Sulphur Lick, Thrifton, Three Locks, Tucson-area “Vauces,” West Junction and Yankeetown — those have been dropped from this list for lack of a second source.
Townships
Ross County’s 16 civil townships partition the entire county, including Chillicothe, which sits mostly within Scioto Township. Township totals below are 2020 census figures and sum exactly to the county’s population.
| Township | Pop. (2020) | Main settlements |
|---|---|---|
| Scioto | 27,876 | Chillicothe |
| Union | 12,530 | — |
| Huntington | 6,069 | — |
| Green | 5,186 | Kingston |
| Concord | 4,743 | Frankfort |
| Twin | 3,492 | Bourneville |
| Liberty | 2,623 | — |
| Springfield | 2,573 | — |
| Buckskin | 2,047 | South Salem |
| Colerain | 2,017 | Adelphi, Hallsville |
| Paxton | 1,918 | Bainbridge |
| Franklin | 1,439 | None — no incorporated place |
| Paint | 1,288 | None — no incorporated place |
| Harrison | 1,189 | — |
| Jefferson | 1,064 | — |
| Deerfield | 1,039 | Clarksburg |
ZIP Codes
- 45601 — Chillicothe (the county’s most populous ZIP by far)
- 45644 — Kingston
- 45628 — Frankfort
- 45612 — Bainbridge
- 43115 — Clarksburg
- 43101 — Adelphi
- 45681 — South Salem
- 45617 — Bourneville
None of the county’s 38 other named hamlets has a ZIP code of its own; mail there is delivered under whichever incorporated town’s code covers that rural route. Knockemstiff lost even that: it no longer has a working post office or delivery point.
Geography
Ross County sits where Ohio’s Appalachian foothills meet the flatter till plains to the west, split by the Scioto River, which runs north to south through the county’s middle, and by Paint Creek, its largest tributary here. Of the county’s 693.03 square miles, 689.19 are land and 3.84 are water, about 0.6 percent — the county has no large natural lake. By land area, Ross is Ohio’s second-largest county, behind only Ashtabula County, and its fifth-largest by total area.
Pickaway County lies to the north, Hocking County to the northeast, Vinton County to the east, Jackson County to the southeast, Pike County to the south, Highland County to the southwest and Fayette County to the northwest. Pickaway County, Hocking County, Vinton County, Jackson County, Pike County, Highland County and Fayette County all border Ross directly.
Demographics
Ross County had a population of 77,093 at the 2020 census, and the latest estimate puts it near 76,429 residents, a slight decline. Chillicothe, the county’s only city, holds close to 29 percent of that total on its own; Kingston, at 1,262, is the largest of the six villages, a distant second among named places. Median household income runs $61,303 (2024), below Ohio’s statewide figure of $67,769 (2023 ACS). Population density works out to roughly 112 people per square mile of land, well below the statewide average and typical for Ohio’s Appalachian counties outside their county seat.
Economy & Local Life
Manufacturing employs the most workers in the county, about 5,847 people, followed by health care and social assistance at 5,406 and retail trade at 3,671. Adena Regional Medical Center and the Chillicothe VA Medical Center are among the county’s largest employers, alongside the Ross Correctional Institution and the Chillicothe Correctional Institution, two state prisons on the city’s outskirts, and Ohio University’s Chillicothe branch campus. The county took an economic hit in April 2025 when the Pixelle paper mill announced its closure, eliminating roughly 800 jobs at what had long been one of Chillicothe’s biggest industrial employers. The county’s biggest annual event is the Feast of the Flowering Moon Festival each May, a three-day gathering centered on Native American culture and crafts that has run since 1984 and draws around 85,000 visitors to Yoctangee Park.
History
The Northwest Territory’s governor authorised Ross County on 20 August 1798, the sixth county formed in the territory, and named it for James Ross, a Federalist U.S. senator from Pennsylvania who never lived there. Chillicothe, laid out the same year, became Ohio’s first state capital in 1803 and its capital again from 1812 to 1816, between stints in Zanesville and the move to Columbus.
The county was a center of the Hopewell tradition roughly 200 BC to 500 AD; the earthworks the Hopewell left on Chillicothe’s north end are preserved today as Hopewell Culture National Historical Park, administered by the National Park Service. More recently, Camp Sherman, a U.S. Army training cantonment built near Chillicothe for the First World War, trained tens of thousands of soldiers in 1917 and 1918 — a well-known 1918 photograph shows 21,000 soldiers assembled on the camp’s parade ground to form a living image of President Woodrow Wilson.
Getting There
No interstate highway crosses Ross County. US Route 23, US Route 35 and US Route 50 all meet in Chillicothe, and Ohio State Route 180 runs through the countryside northeast of the city, along with several other state routes crossing the county.
- Columbus — about 45 miles north
- Portsmouth — about 45 miles south
- Athens — about 50 miles east
- Washington Court House — about 25 miles northwest
Ross County Airport, about six nautical miles northwest of downtown Chillicothe, handles general aviation. John Glenn Columbus International Airport, roughly 45 miles north, is the nearest major commercial airport. The county has no Amtrak station of its own.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Ross County located?
It sits in south-central Ohio’s Appalachian foothills, about 45 miles south of Columbus, bordered by Pickaway, Hocking, Vinton, Jackson, Pike, Highland and Fayette counties.
What is the population of Ross County?
77,093 at the 2020 census, with a 2025 estimate near 76,429.
How big is Ross County?
693.03 square miles (1,794.9 km2), of which 689.19 square miles are land — Ohio’s second-largest county by land area.
What is the county seat of Ross County?
Chillicothe is the county seat and the county’s only city; it was Ohio’s first and third state capital.
How many towns and villages are in Ross County?
One city, Chillicothe, plus six incorporated villages — Kingston, Frankfort, Bainbridge, Clarksburg, Adelphi and South Salem — and 39 smaller unincorporated communities, including the CDP of Bourneville.
What ZIP codes does Ross County use?
45601 for Chillicothe, plus 45644, 45628, 45612, 43115, 43101, 45681 and 45617 for the villages and Bourneville.
What is Ross County known for?
Hopewell Culture National Historical Park’s ancient earthworks, Chillicothe’s history as Ohio’s first capital, and the World War I training camp Camp Sherman.
More counties in this state: Towns and villages in Ohio.