{"id":5162,"date":"2023-07-05T19:03:56","date_gmt":"2023-07-05T19:03:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/?p=5162"},"modified":"2026-08-07T23:34:41","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T23:34:41","slug":"bolivar-county","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/bolivar-county\/","title":{"rendered":"Bolivar County, Mississippi"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bolivar County is a county in Mississippi, United States, on the state’s western border along the
\nMississippi River. It had a population of 30,985 at the 2020 census, an estimated 28,262 by 2025, and
\ncovers 906 square miles (2,350 km2) centred near 33\u00b048\u2032N 90\u00b053\u2032W.<\/p>\n

Cleveland is the county seat, one of two seats along with Rosedale; Cleveland is the larger of the pair
\nand its postal code is 38732. The county holds 5 cities, 10 incorporated towns, 4 census-designated places and 15 smaller
\nunincorporated communities, and it runs on Central Time. Its FIPS code is 28011.<\/p>\n

Towns & Villages in Bolivar County<\/h2>\n

Bolivar County has 34 named places on record: 15 incorporated cities and towns, 4 census-designated
\nplaces (CDPs) and 15 unincorporated communities with no local government of their own. CDP stands for
\ncensus designated place; Unincorp. covers crossroads and rural communities with no formal boundary.<\/p>\n

\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Place<\/th>\nType<\/th>\nPop.<\/th>\nZIP<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
Cleveland<\/td>\nCity · seat<\/td>\n11,199<\/td>\n38732<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Shelby<\/td>\nCity<\/td>\n2,021<\/td>\n38774<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Rosedale<\/td>\nCity · seat<\/td>\n1,584<\/td>\n38769<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Mound Bayou<\/td>\nCity<\/td>\n1,534<\/td>\n38762<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Shaw<\/td>\nCity<\/td>\n1,457<\/td>\n38773<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Renova<\/td>\nTown<\/td>\n676<\/td>\n—<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Boyle<\/td>\nTown<\/td>\n532<\/td>\n38730<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Merigold<\/td>\nTown<\/td>\n379<\/td>\n38759<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Benoit<\/td>\nTown<\/td>\n365<\/td>\n38725<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Gunnison<\/td>\nTown<\/td>\n295<\/td>\n38746<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Duncan<\/td>\nTown<\/td>\n276<\/td>\n38740<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Beulah<\/td>\nTown<\/td>\n242<\/td>\n38726<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Skene<\/td>\nCDP<\/td>\n210<\/td>\n38730<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Pace<\/td>\nTown<\/td>\n183<\/td>\n38764<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Winstonville<\/td>\nTown<\/td>\n153<\/td>\n38781<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Alligator<\/td>\nTown<\/td>\n116<\/td>\n38720<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Scott<\/td>\nCDP<\/td>\n90<\/td>\n38772<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Symonds<\/td>\nCDP<\/td>\n72<\/td>\n38769<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Bolivar<\/td>\nCDP<\/td>\n39<\/td>\n38725<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Choctaw<\/td>\nUnincorp.<\/td>\n—<\/td>\n—<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Christmas<\/td>\nUnincorp.<\/td>\n—<\/td>\n—<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Dahomy<\/td>\nUnincorp.<\/td>\n—<\/td>\n—<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Deeson<\/td>\nUnincorp.<\/td>\n—<\/td>\n—<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Hushpuckena<\/td>\nUnincorp.<\/td>\n—<\/td>\n—<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Lamont<\/td>\nUnincorp.<\/td>\n—<\/td>\n—<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Litton<\/td>\nUnincorp.<\/td>\n—<\/td>\n—<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Malvina<\/td>\nUnincorp.<\/td>\n—<\/td>\n—<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
O’Reilly<\/td>\nUnincorp.<\/td>\n—<\/td>\n—<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Perthshire<\/td>\nUnincorp.<\/td>\n—<\/td>\n—<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Round Lake<\/td>\nUnincorp.<\/td>\n—<\/td>\n—<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Stringtown<\/td>\nUnincorp.<\/td>\n—<\/td>\n—<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Waxhaw<\/td>\nUnincorp.<\/td>\n—<\/td>\n—<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Wright<\/td>\nUnincorp.<\/td>\n—<\/td>\n—<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Zumbro<\/td>\nUnincorp.<\/td>\n—<\/td>\n—<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n

Bolivar County has two county seats, an arrangement dating to an 1870s split between the river towns and
\nthe interior — Rosedale keeps the older Mississippi River-facing courthouse while Cleveland, inland on
\nthe Illinois Central line, grew into the county’s largest city. Shaw straddles the county line: most of
\nits 1,457 residents live in Bolivar, but the town limits extend a short distance east into Sunflower
\nCounty. Skene and Boyle share the ZIP code 38730, both served out of the Boyle post office; Symonds and
\nRosedale likewise share 38769.<\/p>\n

Geography<\/h2>\n

Bolivar County sits entirely within the Mississippi Delta, the flat alluvial plain built up by
\ncenturies of river flooding between the Mississippi and Yazoo rivers. Of its 906 square miles, 877 are
\nland and 29 are water, about 3.2 percent — mostly oxbow lakes left behind as the Mississippi River
\nshifted course, plus a long frontage on the river itself, which forms the county’s entire western
\nedge. It is Mississippi’s second-largest county by land area and fourth-largest by total area. The
\nterrain is uniformly flat, given over almost entirely to row-crop farmland, with no hills or natural
\nelevation of note.<\/p>\n

Coahoma County lies to the north, Sunflower County to the east, Washington County to the south, and
\nDesha County, Arkansas, across the river to the west. Coahoma County<\/a>, Sunflower County<\/a> and Washington County<\/a> all border
\nBolivar directly; Desha County lies across the Mississippi River in Arkansas and has no bridge crossing
\nwithin Bolivar County.<\/p>\n

Demographics<\/h2>\n

Bolivar County had a population of 30,985 at the 2020 census, down sharply from a 1930 peak above
\n70,000, and the latest estimate puts the county near 28,262 residents — a decline driven by
\nfarm mechanization and out-migration that has run for decades. Cleveland and Shelby are the two largest
\ncommunities, together holding more than 40 percent of the county’s population. Median household
\nincome runs about $39,585 (2024 estimate), well below Mississippi’s statewide figure of $54,203
\n(2023 ACS). Population density works out to roughly 35 people per square mile of land, low even for the
\nrural Delta, reflecting the long decline from the county’s cotton-plantation-era population highs.<\/p>\n

Economy & Local Life<\/h2>\n

Health care and social assistance employs the most workers in the county, about 1,517 people, followed
\nby educational services at 1,385 and retail trade at 1,353. Delta State University, in Cleveland, is the
\ncounty’s largest single employer and anchors its educational-services sector; Cleveland also hosts
\nBolivar Medical Center and the GRAMMY Museum Mississippi, the first Grammy Museum built outside Los
\nAngeles. Farming remains central to the county’s economy, with soybeans, corn and rice now dominant
\non land that grew almost exclusively cotton through the mid-20th century. Mound Bayou, founded in 1887 by
\nIsaiah T. Montgomery and Benjamin T. Green as a self-governed Black settlement, still runs its own
\ninstitutions and draws visitors for its history. The county’s best-known annual event is the Delta
\nBlues Symposium, held on the Delta State University campus in Cleveland each spring.<\/p>\n

History<\/h2>\n

The Mississippi Legislature created Bolivar County on 9 February 1836, naming it for Simón
\nBolívar, the South American independence leader. The county developed as prime cotton land,
\nworked before the Civil War almost entirely by enslaved labor; after emancipation it drew large numbers
\nof freed African Americans as sharecroppers and, later, as landowners.<\/p>\n

Mound Bayou, founded in 1887 on former plantation land by Isaiah T. Montgomery and Benjamin T. Green,
\nbecame one of the country’s most prominent all-Black towns, running its own newspapers, banks,
\ninsurance companies and a hospital; Theodore Roosevelt visited in 1908 and Booker T. Washington called it
\nproof of what Black self-government could achieve. The county was also the site of documented racial
\nviolence, including 18 recorded lynchings between 1877 and 1950, and later became a center of civil
\nrights organizing during the 1950s and 1960s Delta voter-registration campaigns.<\/p>\n

Getting There<\/h2>\n

U.S. Route 61 runs the length of the county north to south; Mississippi Highways 1, 8 and 32 cross it,
\nand a future extension of Interstate 69 is planned through the county. No interstate currently crosses
\nBolivar County.<\/p>\n