Scioto County, Ohio

Scioto County is a county in Ohio, United States, along the Ohio River about 90 miles south of Columbus. It had a population of 74,008 at the 2020 census, an estimated 71,365 by 2025, and covers 616 square miles (1,595 km2) centred near 38°49′N 82°59′W.

Portsmouth is the county seat and the county’s only city; its postal code is 45662. The county holds 1 city, 4 villages and 10 census-designated places across 16 townships, and it runs on Eastern Time. Its FIPS code is 39145.

Towns & Villages in Scioto County

Scioto County has 15 named places on record: Portsmouth, the county’s only incorporated city, four incorporated villages, and ten unincorporated census-designated places (CDPs). CDP stands for census designated place, a Census Bureau statistical area with no city government of its own.

Townships

Scioto County has 16 civil townships. Population is not published separately for most of them, since much of their area overlaps the incorporated and CDP populations already counted above; the table lists each township’s documented principal settlement where one is on record.

ZIP Codes

• 45662 — Portsmouth (also serves New Boston)
• 45694 — Wheelersburg
• 45663 — West Portsmouth
• 45648 — Lucasville (also 45699, a Lucasville PO box ZIP)
• 45629 — Franklin Furnace
• 45682 — South Webster
• 45653 — Minford
• 45630 — Friendship
• 45652 — McDermott
• 45671 — Rarden
• 45657 — Otway

Rosemount, Sciotodale and Clarktown have no ZIP code of their own; as unincorporated CDPs with no post office, mail there is delivered under a neighboring town’s code.

Geography

Scioto County sits in Ohio’s unglaciated Appalachian foothills, a belt of steep hill country that the last ice age never flattened. The Ohio River forms the county’s entire southern border, and the Scioto River meets it at Portsmouth, giving the county its name. Of the county’s 616 square miles, 610 are land and 5.9 are water, about 1 percent. Shawnee State Forest, in the county’s southwest corner, covers more than 63,000 acres and is Ohio’s largest state forest.

Pike County lies to the north, Jackson County to the northeast, Lawrence County to the southeast, Greenup County, Kentucky, to the south across the Ohio River, Lewis County, Kentucky, to the southwest, and Adams County to the west. Pike County, Jackson County, Lawrence County, Greenup County, Lewis County and Adams County all border Scioto directly.

Demographics

Scioto County had a population of 74,008 at the 2020 census, and the latest estimate puts the county near 71,365 residents by 2025, a decline typical of the region’s Appalachian counties. Portsmouth and Wheelersburg are the two largest communities, together holding roughly a third of the county’s population. Median household income runs $50,609, well below Ohio’s statewide figure of $67,769 (2023 ACS). Population density works out to roughly 117 people per square mile of land.

Economy & Local Life

Health care and social assistance employs the most workers in the county, about 6,071 people, followed by retail trade at 3,541 and manufacturing at 2,882. Southern Ohio Medical Center, based in Portsmouth, is the county’s largest single employer and the region’s main hospital system. Shawnee State University, also in Portsmouth, enrolls between 3,300 and 4,000 students and is the county’s only four-year public college. Portsmouth was once a national shoe-manufacturing center — by 1916 it ranked as the fourth-largest shoe-producing city in the country — and that industrial base has since given way to health care and education as the county’s main employers. The Portsmouth floodwall, painted with roughly sixty historical murals by artist Robert Dafford starting in 1993, draws visitors along more than 2,000 feet of downtown riverfront.

History

Ohio’s legislature organized Scioto County on 24 March 1803, carving it out of Adams County. The name comes from the Scioto River, itself from a Native American word referring to deer or deer hunting. Portsmouth, founded the same year by Henry Massie, was named after Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and became the county seat.

Catastrophic Ohio River flooding in 1937 submerged much of Portsmouth, prompting the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to build the floodwall that still protects the city today. More recently, the county was at the center of Ohio’s prescription opioid crisis beginning in the late 1990s; Portsmouth’s state representative, Terry Johnson, authored the 2011 state legislation cracking down on pill mills.

Getting There

No interstate highway crosses Scioto County. US 23 runs north–south through Portsmouth and Wheelersburg, and US 52 runs east–west along the Ohio River.

• Columbus — about 90 miles north
• Cincinnati — about 90 miles northwest
• Charleston, WV — about 90 miles east
• Lexington, KY — about 90 miles southwest

Greater Portsmouth Regional Airport, at Minford, handles general aviation. Amtrak’s Cardinal route stops at South Shore, Kentucky, just across the Ohio River from Portsmouth, connecting to Cincinnati and Charleston.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Scioto County located?
It sits in Ohio’s unglaciated Appalachian foothills along the Ohio River, about 90 miles south of Columbus, bordered by Pike, Jackson, Lawrence and Adams counties in Ohio and Greenup and Lewis counties in Kentucky.

What is the population of Scioto County?
74,008 at the 2020 census, with a 2025 estimate near 71,365.

How big is Scioto County?
616 square miles (1,595 km2), of which 610 square miles are land.

What is the county seat of Scioto County?
Portsmouth, organized in 1803, is the county seat and the county’s only incorporated city.

How many towns and villages are in Scioto County?
One city (Portsmouth) and four incorporated villages — New Boston, South Webster, Rarden and Otway — plus ten unincorporated CDPs including Wheelersburg, West Portsmouth and Lucasville.

What ZIP codes does Scioto County use?
45662 for Portsmouth and New Boston, 45694 for Wheelersburg, 45663 for West Portsmouth, 45648 for Lucasville, and separate codes for each of the county’s other villages and CDPs.

What is Scioto County known for?
The Portsmouth floodwall murals, Shawnee State Forest — Ohio’s largest — and its history as a national shoe-manufacturing center in the early 1900s.

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