Rankin County, Mississippi

Rankin County
Rankin County
County
	Rankin County Courthouse in Brandon
	Location within the U.S. state of Mississippi
	Mississippi's location within the U.S.
	Coordinates: 32°16′N 89°57′W / 32.26°N 89.95°W
Country	United States
State	Mississippi
Founded	February 4, 1828
Named for	Christopher Rankin
Seat	Brandon
Largest city	Pearl
Area
• Total	806 sq mi (2,090 km2)
• Land	775 sq mi (2,010 km2)
• Water	31 sq mi (80 km2) 3.8%
Population (2020)
• Total	157,031
• Density	190/sq mi (75/km2)
Time zone	UTC−6 (Central)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−5 (CDT)
Congressional district	3rd
Website	www.rankincounty.org

Rankin County is a county located in the U.S. state of Mississippi. The western border of the county is formed by the Pearl River. As of the 2020 census, the population was 157,031,^[1] making it the fourth-most populous county in Mississippi. The county seat is Brandon.^[2] The county is named in honor of Christopher Rankin, a Mississippi Congressman who served from 1819 to 1826.

Rankin County is part of the Jackson Metropolitan Statistical Area.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 806 square miles (2,090 km²), of which 775 square miles (2,010 km²) is land and 31 square miles (80 km²) (3.8%) is water.^[3]

Adjacent counties

Madison County (north)
Scott County (east)
Smith County (southeast)
Simpson County (south)
Hinds County (west)

Demographics

Historical population
Census	Pop.	Note	%±
1830	2,083		—
1840	4,631		122.3%
1850	7,227		56.1%
1860	13,635		88.7%
1870	12,977		−4.8%
1880	16,752		29.1%
1890	17,922		7.0%
1900	20,955		16.9%
1910	23,944		14.3%
1920	20,272		−15.3%
1930	20,353		0.4%
1940	27,934		37.2%
1950	28,881		3.4%
1960	34,322		18.8%
1970	43,933		28.0%
1980	69,427		58.0%
1990	87,161		25.5%
2000	115,327		32.3%
2010	141,617		22.8%
2020	157,031		10.9%
2023 (est.)	160,417	^[4]	2.2%
U.S. Decennial Census^[5] 1790-1960^[6] 1900-1990^[7] 1990-2000^[8] 2010-2019^[9]

Rankin County racial composition as of 2020^[10]
Race	Num.	Perc.
White (non-Hispanic)	111,990	71.32%
Black or African American (non-Hispanic)	32,430	20.65%
Native American	255	0.16%
Asian	2,260	1.44%
Pacific Islander	94	0.06%
Other/Mixed	4,935	3.14%
Hispanic or Latino	5,067	3.23%

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 157,031 people, 57,011 households, and 39,676 families residing in the county.

Transportation

Major highways

Airport

Jackson Evers International Airport is located in unincorporated Rankin County.

Government

The Mississippi Department of Corrections (MDOC) operates the Central Mississippi Correctional Facility (CMCF), located in unincorporated Rankin County.^[11]^[12] CMCF houses the state's female death row inmates.^[11] MDOC also operates the Brandon Probation and Parole Office in Brandon.^[13] In 2007 the Mississippi Highway Patrol opened a driver's license facility across the highway from the prison.^[14]

The Mississippi State Hospital of the Mississippi Department of Mental Health is in Whitfield in unincorporated Rankin County.^[15]^[16] It occupies the former Rankin Farm prison grounds.^[17] In 1935, the Mississippi State Insane Asylum moved from a complex of 19th-century buildings in northern Jackson, the capital, to its current location.^[18]

The Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality operates the Central Regional Office and the MDEQ Laboratory in unincorporated Rankin County.^[19]^[20]

Rankin County is one of the most conservative counties in the state, with Republican candidates normally receiving 70% or so of the popular vote. The county last supported the official Democratic candidate for president in 1956, which is also the last time a Democrat got even 40 percent of the county's vote. While conservative Democrats held most local offices well into the 1980s, today there are almost no elected Democrats left above the county level.

Law enforcement

The Mississippi Department of Public Safety operates the Mississippi Law Enforcement Officers' Training Academy (MLEOTA) on a 243-acre (98 ha) property in Rankin County, near CMCF and the MSH, 10 miles (16 km) from Jackson.^[21]

Department of Justice torture investigation

In February 2023, the Department of Justice opened a civil rights investigation into conduct of the Rankin County Sheriffs department. The investigation is centered on a January 24, 2023, incident where deputies searched the house of Michael Jenkins and Eddie Parker. Jenkins and Parker, both African-Americans, experienced six deputies turning-off their body cameras, torturing the men for two hours, shocking them with tasers, repeatedly shouting racial slurs, and shooting one of them in the mouth. All accused officers pled guilty and were convicted.^[22]^[23]^[24]

In June 2023, Jenkins and Parker filed a $400M lawsuit against Sheriff Bryan Bailey and six deputies. In late June, the Sheriff announced that some deputies involved had been terminated or resigned from their jobs, and that the department hired a "compliance officer" to monitor the Sheriff department's daily operations.^[25]^[26] An investigation by the Associated Press determined that the Sheriff's Special Response Team had been involved in four violent incidents with African-Americans since 2019, resulting in two deaths.^[27]^[28]

United States presidential election results for Rankin County, Mississippi^[29]
Year	Republican		Democratic		Third party
Year	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
2020	50,895	71.89%	18,847	26.62%	1,057	1.49%
2016	47,178	74.76%	14,110	22.36%	1,822	2.89%
2012	48,444	75.52%	14,988	23.37%	713	1.11%
2008	48,140	76.20%	14,372	22.75%	665	1.05%
2004	43,054	78.67%	11,005	20.11%	667	1.22%
2000	32,983	79.60%	8,050	19.43%	402	0.97%
1996	24,585	69.40%	8,614	24.32%	2,224	6.28%
1992	24,537	67.76%	8,155	22.52%	3,518	9.72%
1988	22,937	78.41%	6,201	21.20%	116	0.40%
1984	22,393	79.10%	5,874	20.75%	41	0.14%
1980	16,650	66.25%	8,047	32.02%	435	1.73%
1976	11,507	60.95%	6,937	36.75%	434	2.30%
1972	12,187	85.19%	1,913	13.37%	205	1.43%
1968	1,124	9.12%	1,975	16.03%	9,224	74.85%
1964	7,541	95.78%	332	4.22%	0	0.00%
1960	818	17.11%	850	17.77%	3,114	65.12%
1956	556	18.00%	1,537	49.76%	996	32.24%
1952	1,545	42.66%	2,077	57.34%	0	0.00%
1948	23	0.83%	57	2.07%	2,679	97.10%
1944	98	3.96%	2,374	96.04%	0	0.00%
1940	35	1.63%	2,110	98.09%	6	0.28%
1936	54	2.78%	1,884	97.06%	3	0.15%
1932	52	3.27%	1,536	96.60%	2	0.13%
1928	180	11.96%	1,325	88.04%	0	0.00%
1924	34	2.35%	1,415	97.65%	0	0.00%
1920	43	4.51%	905	94.96%	5	0.52%
1916	8	0.71%	1,104	98.22%	12	1.07%
1912	7	0.92%	718	93.86%	40	5.23%

Communities

Census-designated places

Other unincorporated communities

Former communities

Education

Pearl Public School District and Rankin County School District are the two public school districts located in the county.^[30]

Private schools located in the county are Hartfield Academy in Flowood, Jackson Preparatory School in Flowood, Park Place Christian Academy in Pearl, and East Rankin Academy in Pelahatchie.

References

^ "Census - Geography Profile: Rankin County, Mississippi". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved January 14, 2023.
^ "Find a County". National Association of Counties. Retrieved June 7, 2011.
^ "2010 Census Gazetteer Files". United States Census Bureau. August 22, 2012. Archived from the original on September 28, 2013. Retrieved November 7, 2014.
^ "Annual Estimates of the Resident Population for Counties: April 1, 2020 to July 1, 2023". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved April 5, 2024.
^ "U.S. Decennial Census". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved November 7, 2014.
^ "Historical Census Browser". University of Virginia Library. Retrieved November 7, 2014.
^ "Population of Counties by Decennial Census: 1900 to 1990". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved November 7, 2014.
^ "Census 2000 PHC-T-4. Ranking Tables for Counties: 1990 and 2000" (PDF). United States Census Bureau. Archived (PDF) from the original on March 27, 2010. Retrieved November 7, 2014.
^ "State & County QuickFacts". United States Census Bureau. Archived from the original on June 7, 2011. Retrieved September 5, 2013.
^ "Explore Census Data". data.census.gov. Retrieved December 16, 2021.
^ ^a ^b "State Prisons Archived 2002-12-06 at the Wayback Machine." Mississippi Department of Corrections. Retrieved on May 21, 2010.
^ "MDOC QUICK REFERENCE." Mississippi Department of Corrections. Retrieved on May 21, 2010.
^ "Rankin County." Mississippi Department of Corrections. Retrieved on September 15, 2010.
^ "New Driver's License Facility Opens In Pearl", WAPT-TV. April 23, 2007. Retrieved on May 21, 2010.
^ "Whitfield Campus Map." Mississippi State Hospital. Retrieved on August 10, 2010.
^ "Driving Directions to MSH." Mississippi State Hospital. Retrieved on August 10, 2010.
^ Sixteenth Census of the United States: 1940: Population. Bureau of the Census, 1941. 572. Retrieved on Google Books on August 12, 2011.
^ Cole, Hunter. The Legs Murder Scandal. University Press of Mississippi. 331. Retrieved from Google Books on October 31, 2010. ISBN 1-60473-722-0, ISBN 978-1-60473-722-6
^ "Central Regional Office." Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality. Retrieved on September 21, 2010.
^ "Locations and Driving Directions to MDEQ Offices." Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality. Retrieved on September 21, 2010.
^ "Mississippi Law Enforcement Officers’ Training Academy Archived 2012-04-14 at the Wayback Machine," Mississippi Department of Public Safety. Retrieved on April 16, 2012.
^ "Statement from FBI Jackson". Federal Bureau of Investigation. Retrieved July 5, 2023.
^ Adams, Ross (February 18, 2023), Rankin County Sheriff’s Office subject of federal civil rights investigation, retrieved July 5, 2023
^ Goldberg, Michael (March 27, 2023). "Deputies accused of shoving guns in mouths of 2 Black men". Associated Press. Archived from the original on April 5, 2023. Retrieved March 28, 2023.
^ Elamroussi, Shawn Nottingham,Aya (June 28, 2023). "Multiple deputies fired after 2 Black men file lawsuit alleging torture and attempted sexual assault in Mississippi". CNN. Retrieved July 5, 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^ "Five Mississippi deputies in alleged violent episode against 2 Black men fired or quit - CBS News". www.cbsnews.com. June 28, 2023. Retrieved July 5, 2023.
^ "Deputies accused of shoving guns in mouths of 2 Black men". AP News. March 27, 2023. Retrieved July 5, 2023.
^ "Deputies accused of abusing Black men are fired by Mississippi sheriff amid federal probe". AP News. June 27, 2023. Retrieved July 5, 2023.
^ Leip, David. "Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections". uselectionatlas.org. Retrieved March 4, 2018.
^ "2020 CENSUS - SCHOOL DISTRICT REFERENCE MAP: Rankin County, MS" (PDF). U.S. Census Bureau. Archived (PDF) from the original on June 9, 2021. Retrieved July 31, 2022. - Text list

External links

32°16′N 89°57′W / 32.26°N 89.95°W / 32.26; -89.95

[1] "Census - Geography Profile: Rankin County, Mississippi". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved January 14, 2023.

[GR6-2] "Find a County". National Association of Counties. Retrieved June 7, 2011.

[GR1-3] "2010 Census Gazetteer Files". United States Census Bureau. August 22, 2012. Archived from the original on September 28, 2013. Retrieved November 7, 2014.

[USCensusEst2023-4] "Annual Estimates of the Resident Population for Counties: April 1, 2020 to July 1, 2023". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved April 5, 2024.

[5] "U.S. Decennial Census". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved November 7, 2014.

[6] "Historical Census Browser". University of Virginia Library. Retrieved November 7, 2014.

[7] "Population of Counties by Decennial Census: 1900 to 1990". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved November 7, 2014.

[8] "Census 2000 PHC-T-4. Ranking Tables for Counties: 1990 and 2000" (PDF). United States Census Bureau. Archived (PDF) from the original on March 27, 2010. Retrieved November 7, 2014.

[QF-9] "State & County QuickFacts". United States Census Bureau. Archived from the original on June 7, 2011. Retrieved September 5, 2013.

[10] "Explore Census Data". data.census.gov. Retrieved December 16, 2021.

[Stateprisons-11] "State Prisons Archived 2002-12-06 at the Wayback Machine." Mississippi Department of Corrections. Retrieved on May 21, 2010.

[12] "MDOC QUICK REFERENCE." Mississippi Department of Corrections. Retrieved on May 21, 2010.

[13] "Rankin County." Mississippi Department of Corrections. Retrieved on September 15, 2010.

[14] "New Driver's License Facility Opens In Pearl", WAPT-TV. April 23, 2007. Retrieved on May 21, 2010.

[15] "Whitfield Campus Map." Mississippi State Hospital. Retrieved on August 10, 2010.

[16] "Driving Directions to MSH." Mississippi State Hospital. Retrieved on August 10, 2010.

[Move-17] Sixteenth Census of the United States: 1940: Population. Bureau of the Census, 1941. 572. Retrieved on Google Books on August 12, 2011.

[Cole331-18] Cole, Hunter. The Legs Murder Scandal. University Press of Mississippi. 331. Retrieved from Google Books on October 31, 2010. ISBN 1-60473-722-0, ISBN 978-1-60473-722-6

[19] "Central Regional Office." Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality. Retrieved on September 21, 2010.

[MDEQOffices-20] "Locations and Driving Directions to MDEQ Offices." Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality. Retrieved on September 21, 2010.

[21] "Mississippi Law Enforcement Officers’ Training Academy Archived 2012-04-14 at the Wayback Machine," Mississippi Department of Public Safety. Retrieved on April 16, 2012.

[22] "Statement from FBI Jackson". Federal Bureau of Investigation. Retrieved July 5, 2023.

[23] Adams, Ross (February 18, 2023), Rankin County Sheriff’s Office subject of federal civil rights investigation, retrieved July 5, 2023

[24] Goldberg, Michael (March 27, 2023). "Deputies accused of shoving guns in mouths of 2 Black men". Associated Press. Archived from the original on April 5, 2023. Retrieved March 28, 2023.

[25] Elamroussi, Shawn Nottingham,Aya (June 28, 2023). "Multiple deputies fired after 2 Black men file lawsuit alleging torture and attempted sexual assault in Mississippi". CNN. Retrieved July 5, 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

[26] "Five Mississippi deputies in alleged violent episode against 2 Black men fired or quit - CBS News". www.cbsnews.com. June 28, 2023. Retrieved July 5, 2023.

[27] "Deputies accused of shoving guns in mouths of 2 Black men". AP News. March 27, 2023. Retrieved July 5, 2023.

[28] "Deputies accused of abusing Black men are fired by Mississippi sheriff amid federal probe". AP News. June 27, 2023. Retrieved July 5, 2023.

[29] Leip, David. "Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections". uselectionatlas.org. Retrieved March 4, 2018.

[30] "2020 CENSUS - SCHOOL DISTRICT REFERENCE MAP: Rankin County, MS" (PDF). U.S. Census Bureau. Archived (PDF) from the original on June 9, 2021. Retrieved July 31, 2022. - Text list

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