Benton County is a county in Missouri, United States, home to most of the Harry S. Truman Reservoir on the Osage River. It had a population of 19,394 at the 2020 census and covers 752 square miles (1,940 km2) centred near 38°18′N 93°17′W, in the west-central part of the state.<\/p>\n
Warsaw is the county seat, and its postal code is 65355. The county has 3 incorporated cities, 1 village, 2 census-designated places, and roughly three dozen unincorporated communities. Benton County sits in the Central time zone.<\/p>\n
Benton County lists around 40 named places on the map, but only Cole Camp, Lincoln and Warsaw are incorporated cities; Ionia is Missouri’s only incorporated village here. Bent Tree Harbor and White Branch are census-designated places (CDPs) — recognised by the Census Bureau for statistics but with no city government of their own. Everything else below is an unincorporated community: a crossroads, lake subdivision or rural post-office name with no municipal boundary.<\/p>\n
| Place<\/th>\n | Type<\/th>\n | Pop.<\/th>\n | ZIP<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n |
|---|---|---|---|
| Warsaw<\/td>\n | City · seat<\/td>\n | 2,209<\/td>\n | 65355<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Cole Camp<\/td>\n | City<\/td>\n | 1,104<\/td>\n | 65325<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Lincoln<\/td>\n | City<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | 65338<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Ionia<\/td>\n | Village<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | 65335<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Bent Tree Harbor<\/td>\n | CDP<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | 65355<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| White Branch<\/td>\n | CDP<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | 65355<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Avery<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Bentonville<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Blue Branch<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Brandon<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Cold Springs<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Cole Camp Junction<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Crest<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Crockerville<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Dell<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Dell Junction<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Edmonson<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Edwards<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | 65326<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Fristoe<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Gabriels Mills<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Hastain<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Hilda<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Knobby<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Lake Creek<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Lakeview Heights<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Lively<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Macks Camp<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Majorville<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Mora<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Opportunity Farms<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Palo Pinto<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Pom-o-sa Heights<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Racket<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Santiago<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Tackner<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Teal Bend<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Valley View<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Walkers Corner<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Whitakerville<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Windsor Junction<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Wisdom<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Zora<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n “Bentonville” (an unincorporated crossroads) is not the county seat and should not be confused with Bentonville, Arkansas. “Cole Camp Junction” and “Dell Junction” are rail\/road landmarks near the towns of Cole Camp and Dell rather than separate settlements in their own right, but each is carried on county maps under its own name so both are kept here.<\/p>\n ZIP Codes<\/h2>\nEvery other place in the county draws mail through one of these five post offices rather than having a ZIP code of its own.<\/p>\n Geography<\/h2>\nBenton County sits on the rolling Ozark border, where the Osage River was dammed in 1979 to form the Harry S. Truman Reservoir, the county’s dominant landscape feature and the reason for its many lake-subdivision place names (Bent Tree Harbor, Lakeview Heights, Teal Bend). Land makes up 704 square miles of the county and water another 48 square miles — about 6.4% of the total, unusually high for an inland Missouri county because of the reservoir. The county borders Morgan County to the northeast, Camden County to the southeast, Henry County to the west, and St. Clair, Hickory and Pettis counties along its southwest, south and north edges respectively. See Morgan County<\/a>, Camden County<\/a>, Henry County<\/a>, Pettis County<\/a> and Hickory County<\/a>; St. Clair County has no page on this site yet.<\/p>\n Benton County had 19,394 residents at the 2020 census, a density of about 27.5 people per square mile. Warsaw (2,209) and Cole Camp (1,104) are its two largest communities; nearly everyone else lives in unincorporated lake subdivisions or rural crossroads. Median age runs high, at 53.8, reflecting the county’s popularity as a retirement and lake-recreation destination. Median household income in Benton County trails the Missouri median of $68,545, typical for a rural, retiree-heavy county with a large seasonal-property tax base but modest year-round wages.<\/p>\n Tourism and lake recreation around the Harry S. Truman Reservoir and Lake of the Ozarks drive much of the local economy — marinas, campgrounds, boat storage and vacation-home services cluster around Warsaw and the lake subdivisions. Cole Camp, settled heavily by German immigrants in the 19th century, still holds a Germanfest each autumn and keeps a Main Street lined with 19th-century limestone storefronts. Away from the lake, cattle grazing and hay production remain the backbone of the county’s rural economy.<\/p>\n Benton County was organized on January 3, 1835, and named for Missouri’s U.S. Senator Thomas Hart Benton, an early and vocal advocate of westward expansion. During the Civil War the county changed hands repeatedly between Union and Confederate sympathizers, and Warsaw was burned in 1861. The county’s modern landscape was reshaped in 1979 when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers completed the Harry S. Truman Dam on the Osage River, flooding thousands of acres of farmland and bottomland to create the reservoir that now anchors the local economy.<\/p>\n Missouri Route 7 and Route 65 are the county’s main highways, crossing near Warsaw and Cole Camp. Approximate driving distances from Warsaw:<\/p>\n The nearest commercial airport is Springfield-Branson National Airport, roughly 90 minutes south by car.<\/p>\n Where is Benton County, Missouri?<\/strong> What is the population of Benton County?<\/strong> How big is Benton County?<\/strong> What is the Benton County seat?<\/strong> How many towns are in Benton County?<\/strong> |