Pike County is the easternmost county in the U.S. state of Kentucky. As of the 2020 Census, the population was 58,669. Its county seat is Pikeville. The county was founded in 1821. It is a moist county—a county in which alcohol sales are prohibited but which contains a "wet" city. In three of the county's cities—Pikeville, Elkhorn City, and Coal Run Village—package alcohol sales are legal.
History
Pike County is Kentucky's easternmost county and its largest by land area. It is Kentucky's 11th most populous county, immediately preceded by Bullitt County and followed by Christian County. It is Kentucky's third largest banking center, with financial institutions and holding companies with more than $1 billion in assets. Between 1995 and 2000, personal income increased by 28%, and the county's per capita income exceeded the national and state average growth rates of the previous decade. Pike County is the 71st Kentucky county in order of creation.
Pike County was founded on December 19, 1821, from a portion of Floyd County. The county was named for General Zebulon Pike, the explorer who discovered Pikes Peak and became a national hero and namesake after his death in the War of 1812. Between 1860 and 1891 the Hatfield-McCoy feud raged in Pike and in bordering Logan County, West Virginia (now Mingo County). On May 6, 1893, Pikeville officially became a city and the county seat.
Pike County is also home to former governor of Kentucky Paul E. Patton.
The Appalachian News Express, published in Pikeville, is preserved on microfilm by the University of Kentucky Libraries. The microfilm holdings are listed in a master negative database on the university's Libraries Preservation and Digital Programs website.
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the county has an area of , of which is land and (0.2%) is water. It is Kentucky's largest county by area.
The county's population centers include Pikeville and its surrounding suburbs, Elkhorn City, and the unincorporated town of South Williamson.
Major highways
thumb|right|250px|[[U.S. Route 23 passes through the Pikeville Cut-Through, the second largest earthmoving project in the Western Hemisphere.]]
Pike County has 486.285 miles of classified roads.
Adjacent counties
- Martin County (north)
- Mingo County, West Virginia (east)
- Buchanan County, Virginia (southeast)
- Dickenson County, Virginia (south)
- Wise County, Virginia (south)
- Letcher County (southwest)
- Knott County (southwest)
- Floyd County (west)
- McDowell County, West Virginia (far east) While not bordering the county directly it is only separated by a nearly 2-mile corridor of Buchanan County, Virginia