Rankin County, Mississippi

Rankin County
County
Rankin County Courthouse in Brandon
Rankin County Courthouse in Brandon
Map of Mississippi highlighting Rankin County
Location within the U.S. state of Mississippi
Map of the United States highlighting Mississippi
Mississippi's location within the U.S.
Coordinates: 32°16′N 89°57′W / 32.26°N 89.95°W / 32.26; -89.95
Country United States
State Mississippi
FoundedFebruary 4, 1828
Named forChristopher Rankin
SeatBrandon
Largest cityPearl
Area
 • Total806 sq mi (2,090 km2)
 • Land775 sq mi (2,010 km2)
 • Water31 sq mi (80 km2)  3.8%
Population
 (2020)
 • Total157,031
 • Density190/sq mi (75/km2)
Time zoneUTC−6 (Central)
 • Summer (DST)UTC−5 (CDT)
Congressional district3rd
Websitewww.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

Demographics

Historical population
CensusPop.Note%±
18302,083—
18404,631122.3%
18507,22756.1%
186013,63588.7%
187012,977−4.8%
188016,75229.1%
189017,9227.0%
190020,95516.9%
191023,94414.3%
192020,272−15.3%
193020,3530.4%
194027,93437.2%
195028,8813.4%
196034,32218.8%
197043,93328.0%
198069,42758.0%
199087,16125.5%
2000115,32732.3%
2010141,61722.8%
2020157,03110.9%
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

Main article: Rankin County torture incident

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(ies)
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

Cities

Towns

Village

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. The former includes the Pearl city limits, and the latter includes all other areas in Rankin 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.

Rankin County is in the district of Hinds Community College.[31] The college operates a Rankin Campus in Pearl.[32]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Census - Geography Profile: Rankin County, Mississippi". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved January 14, 2023.
  2. ^ "Find a County". National Association of Counties. Retrieved June 7, 2011.
  3. ^ "2010 Census Gazetteer Files". United States Census Bureau. August 22, 2012. Archived from the original on September 28, 2013. Retrieved November 7, 2014.
  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.
  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.
  11. ^ a b "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.
  17. ^ Sixteenth Census of the United States: 1940: Population. Bureau of the Census, 1941. 572. Retrieved on Google Books on August 12, 2011.
  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.
  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
  31. ^ "Admission Guide 2019-2020" (PDF). Hinds Community College. p. 10 (PDF p. 12/20). Retrieved September 27, 2024. [...]located in the Hinds Community College District (Hinds, Rankin, Warren, Claiborne, and Copiah counties)[...]
  32. ^ "Rankin". Hinds Community College. Retrieved September 27, 2024.

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