{"id":3908,"date":"2023-06-11T09:46:24","date_gmt":"2023-06-11T09:46:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/?p=3908"},"modified":"2026-08-11T21:32:48","modified_gmt":"2026-08-11T21:32:48","slug":"breathitt-county","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/breathitt-county\/","title":{"rendered":"Breathitt County, Kentucky"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Breathitt County is a county in Kentucky, United States, in the eastern Appalachian coalfield<br \/>\nabout 70 miles southeast of Lexington. It had a population of 13,718 at the 2020 census, an<br \/>\nestimated 12,558 by 2025, and covers 495 square miles (1,280 km2) centred near 37\u00b031\u2032N 83\u00b019\u2032W.<\/p>\n<p>Jackson is the county seat and its only incorporated city; its postal code is 41339. The<br \/>\ncounty holds 1 city and roughly 30 named unincorporated communities across the county, and it<br \/>\nruns on Eastern Time. Its FIPS code is 21025.<\/p>\n<h2>Towns &amp; Villages in Breathitt County<\/h2>\n<p>Breathitt County has one incorporated city, Jackson, and dozens of unincorporated<br \/>\ncommunities &mdash; former post-office stops, coal camps and creek-mouth settlements with no<br \/>\ncity government of their own. The table below lists 30 named places on record. Unincorp.<br \/>\ncovers a crossroads or creek community with no formal boundary or local government.<\/p>\n<div class=\"tv-table-scroll\">\n<table>\n<thead>\n<tr>\n<th>Place<\/th>\n<th>Type<\/th>\n<th>Pop.<\/th>\n<th>ZIP<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>Jackson<\/td>\n<td>City &middot; seat<\/td>\n<td>2,237<\/td>\n<td>41339<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Altro<\/td>\n<td>Unincorp.<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Bays<\/td>\n<td>Unincorp.<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<td>41310<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Canoe<\/td>\n<td>Unincorp.<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Chenowee<\/td>\n<td>Unincorp.<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Clayhole<\/td>\n<td>Unincorp.<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<td>41317<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Crockettsville<\/td>\n<td>Unincorp.<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Elkatawa<\/td>\n<td>Unincorp.<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Evanston<\/td>\n<td>Unincorp.<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Flintville<\/td>\n<td>Unincorp.<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Guage<\/td>\n<td>Unincorp.<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Haddix<\/td>\n<td>Unincorp.<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Lost Creek<\/td>\n<td>Unincorp.<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<td>41348<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Morris Fork<\/td>\n<td>Unincorp.<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Ned<\/td>\n<td>Unincorp.<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Noble<\/td>\n<td>Unincorp.<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Noctor<\/td>\n<td>Unincorp.<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Oakdale<\/td>\n<td>Unincorp.<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Portsmouth<\/td>\n<td>Unincorp.<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Quicksand<\/td>\n<td>Unincorp.<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Rousseau<\/td>\n<td>Unincorp.<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<td>41366<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Sebastians Branch<\/td>\n<td>Unincorp.<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Shoulderblade<\/td>\n<td>Unincorp.<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Stevenson<\/td>\n<td>Unincorp.<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Vancleve<\/td>\n<td>Unincorp.<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<td>41385<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>War Creek<\/td>\n<td>Unincorp.<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Watts<\/td>\n<td>Unincorp.<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Whick<\/td>\n<td>Unincorp.<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<td>41390<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Wilstacy<\/td>\n<td>Unincorp.<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Wolf Coal<\/td>\n<td>Unincorp.<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<p>Two names on the list are easy to confuse with a nearby spelling variant used on older maps:<br \/>\nGuage is also written Gauge, and Shoulderblade appears as two words, Shoulder Blade, on some<br \/>\npostal records. Both refer to the same community in each case.<\/p>\n<h2>ZIP Codes<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>41339 &mdash; Jackson (the county&#8217;s only city and largest ZIP by population)<\/li>\n<li>41310 &mdash; Bays<\/li>\n<li>41317 &mdash; Clayhole<\/li>\n<li>41348 &mdash; Lost Creek<\/li>\n<li>41366 &mdash; Rousseau<\/li>\n<li>41385 &mdash; Vancleve<\/li>\n<li>41390 &mdash; Whick<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Breathitt County runs on just seven ZIP codes total. Every other community on the list above<br \/>\n&mdash; Altro, Canoe, Chenowee, Crockettsville, Elkatawa and the rest &mdash; has no post office<br \/>\nof its own and is served by mail carriers out of the nearest of these seven towns.<\/p>\n<h2>Geography<\/h2>\n<p>Breathitt County sits on the Cumberland Plateau in eastern Kentucky&#8217;s Appalachian coalfield, a<br \/>\ncountry of steep, narrow ridges and creek hollows with almost no flat land outside the river<br \/>\nbottoms. Of its 495 square miles, 492 square miles are land and 2.9 square miles are water,<br \/>\nabout 0.6 percent of the total.<br \/>\nThe North Fork and Middle Fork of the Kentucky River join at Jackson and drain most of the<br \/>\ncounty; Panbowl Lake, a former river bend cut off from the North Fork in 1963, sits beside<br \/>\ndowntown Jackson and is the county&#8217;s main body of still water.<\/p>\n<p>Wolfe and Magoffin counties border Breathitt to the north and northeast, Knott County lies to<br \/>\nthe east, Perry County to the southeast, Owsley County to the southwest, and Lee County to the<br \/>\nwest. <a href=\"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wolfe-county\/\">Wolfe County<\/a>, <a\nhref=\"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/magoffin-county\/\">Magoffin County<\/a>, <a\nhref=\"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/knott-county\/\">Knott County<\/a>, <a\nhref=\"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/perry-county-kentucky\/\">Perry County<\/a>, <a\nhref=\"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/owsley-county\/\">Owsley County<\/a> and <a\nhref=\"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/lee-county-kentucky\/\">Lee County<\/a> all border Breathitt<br \/>\ndirectly.<\/p>\n<h2>Demographics<\/h2>\n<p>Breathitt County had a population of 13,718 at the 2020 census, and the latest estimate puts<br \/>\nthe county near 12,558 residents, a decline typical of the Eastern Kentucky coalfield since coal<br \/>\nemployment fell. Jackson, with 2,237 residents, is by far the county&#8217;s largest single community;<br \/>\neveryone else lives in one of the unincorporated communities or in the open country between<br \/>\nthem. Kentucky&#8217;s statewide median household income was $61,118 (2023 ACS), a figure Breathitt<br \/>\nCounty runs well below given the county&#8217;s coal-era job losses and its position among the<br \/>\npoorest counties in Appalachian Kentucky. Population density works out to roughly 28 people per<br \/>\nsquare mile of land, low even for a rural Appalachian county.<\/p>\n<h2>Economy &amp; Local Life<\/h2>\n<p>Coal mining shaped Breathitt County&#8217;s economy for more than a century, and companies<br \/>\nincluding Arch Coal and US Coal have operated mines in the county; employment in the sector has<br \/>\nfallen sharply since its mid-20th-century peak. Jackson is the county&#8217;s institutional center:<br \/>\nHazard Community and Technical College operates its Lees College Campus there, and the town&#8217;s<br \/>\nhospital and county offices provide much of the county&#8217;s non-coal employment. Panbowl Lake, next<br \/>\nto downtown Jackson, is the county&#8217;s main public recreation spot for fishing and walking.<br \/>\nBreathitt County was a dry county for most of its history; a July 2016 public referendum<br \/>\nlegalized the sale of alcohol countywide.<\/p>\n<h2>History<\/h2>\n<p>The Kentucky legislature established Breathitt County on 6 February 1839, carving it out of<br \/>\nClay, Estill and Perry counties, and named it for John Breathitt, who served as Kentucky&#8217;s<br \/>\ngovernor from 1832 to 1834. Jackson, the county seat, was incorporated as a city in 1845 and<br \/>\nreincorporated in 1890; it takes its name from President Andrew Jackson.<\/p>\n<p>The county earned the nickname &ldquo;Bloody Breathitt&rdquo; for a string of family and<br \/>\npolitical feuds that ran from the 1870s through 1903, among the most violent in the region&#8217;s<br \/>\nhistory. A fire on Halloween night in 1913 destroyed much of downtown Jackson, and the town was<br \/>\nrebuilt largely in brick in the years that followed.<\/p>\n<h2>Getting There<\/h2>\n<p>No interstate crosses Breathitt County. KY 15 is the county&#8217;s main highway, running through<br \/>\nJackson and connecting north to the Mountain Parkway (Bert T. Combs Parkway) at the KY 15 Spur<br \/>\nexit near Campton in Wolfe County; KY 30, KY 52, KY 205 and KY 1812 also serve the county.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Hazard &mdash; about 23 miles southeast<\/li>\n<li>Beattyville &mdash; about 17 miles west<\/li>\n<li>Campton &mdash; about 15 miles northwest<\/li>\n<li>Lexington &mdash; about 70 miles northwest<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Blue Grass Airport in Lexington is the nearest major commercial airport. Julian Carroll<br \/>\nAirport, a public general-aviation field just outside Jackson, also hosts a National Weather<br \/>\nService office. CSX operates a freight line through the county on the former Louisville and<br \/>\nNashville Railroad route; there is no passenger rail service.<\/p>\n<h2>Frequently Asked Questions<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Where is Breathitt County located?<\/strong><br \/>\nIt sits on the Cumberland Plateau in eastern Kentucky&#8217;s Appalachian coalfield, about 70 miles<br \/>\nsoutheast of Lexington, bordered by Wolfe, Magoffin, Knott, Perry, Owsley and Lee counties.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What is the population of Breathitt County?<\/strong><br \/>\n13,718 at the 2020 census, with a 2025 estimate near 12,558.<\/p>\n<p><strong>How big is Breathitt County?<\/strong><br \/>\n495 square miles (1,280 km2), of which 492 square miles are land and 2.9 square miles are<br \/>\nwater.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What is the county seat of Breathitt County?<\/strong><br \/>\nJackson is the county seat and the county&#8217;s only incorporated city.<\/p>\n<p><strong>How many towns and villages are in Breathitt County?<\/strong><br \/>\nOne incorporated city, Jackson, plus roughly 30 named unincorporated communities including<br \/>\nVancleve, Quicksand, Clayhole and Lost Creek.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What ZIP codes does Breathitt County use?<\/strong><br \/>\nSeven in all: 41339 for Jackson, plus 41310, 41317, 41348, 41366, 41385 and 41390 for Bays,<br \/>\nClayhole, Lost Creek, Rousseau, Vancleve and Whick.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What is Breathitt County known for?<\/strong><br \/>\nThe &ldquo;Bloody Breathitt&rdquo; feud era of the 1870s&ndash;1903, its coal-mining history, and<br \/>\nbeing a dry county until a 2016 alcohol-sales referendum.<\/p>\n<p>More counties in this state: <a href=\"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/category\/kentucky\/\">Towns and villages in Kentucky<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Breathitt County is a county in Kentucky, United States, in the eastern Appalachian coalfield about 70 miles southeast of Lexington. It had a population of 13,718 at the 2020 census, an estimated 12,558 by 2025, and covers 495 square miles (1,280 km2) centred near 37\u00b031\u2032N 83\u00b019\u2032W. Jackson is the county seat and its only incorporated [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"Towns & Villages in Breathitt County, Kentucky","_seopress_titles_desc":"All 64 named places in Breathitt County, Kentucky - type, population and ZIP for each, plus Jackson's history as \"Bloody Breathitt.\"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[6],"class_list":["post-3908","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-kentucky","tag-towns-and-cities","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3908","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3908"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3908\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9648,"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3908\/revisions\/9648"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3908"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3908"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3908"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}