Scott County

Scott County is located in north central Kentucky.

It has about 52,000 residents in its 281 square miles, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The county is the home of a major Toyota manufacturing plant in Georgetown, which opened in 1985. Though this modern manufacturing plant may get a lot of attention, the history of the county goes back centuries.

It has been estimated that people have lived along the banks of Elkhorn Creek in what is now Scott County for at least 15,000 years. Those of European ancestry first started moving into the area with a surveying expedition from Virginia in 1774.

Settlement began the next year, and an army outpost was built in 1776 but abandoned the next year after an attack by Indians. A permanent community was finally established in 1783 when Johnson Station was started near the North Fork of Elkhorn Creek, about five miles west of Georgetown. The county became one of the first two counties created by the Kentucky Legislature, named for General Charles Scott, a Revolutionary War hero who was the Commonwealth’s fourth governor.

Elijah Craig, a Baptist preacher from Virginia, incorporated the town of Lebanon in 1784. In 1790 the town’s name was changed to George Town in honor of President George Washington. The community declined after Elijah Craig died in 1808. When Elder Barton Warren Stone, a founder of the Christian Churches movement, moved to Georgetown in 1816; he described the community as “notorious for its wickedness and irreligion.”

In the 20th century, Georgetown and Scott County gradually changed from an economy based mostly on farming to a mix of manufacturing, small businesses and family farms. In the 1960’s, Interstate 75 was built through the area and it has become one of the busiest highways in America. Thanks in large part to the construction of Toyota’s first American assembly plant there in 1985, Scott County has seen the greatest period of growth in its history.

The county’s population has grown by about five thousand people since 2010, according to Census estimates. About 27% of the county is younger than 18, and 11% is 65 or older. The county is about 91% White, 6% African American and 4% Hispanic. About 89% of the population has at least a high school diploma, and 28% have at least one college degree.

The median household income is about $63,000, and about 13% of the county’s population lives in poverty. The total estimated payroll in the county in 2014 was over $1.1 billion. There are nearly 900 employers in the county, employing about 23,000 people, according to the Census Bureau. There are a total of about 4,100 businesses in the county, almost 1,600 owned by women and nearly 300 owned by minorities.

If you or a loved one lives in Scott County, Kentucky, and you have questions about immigration law or need the help of an attorney in an immigration matter, contact our office so we can talk about your situation, how the law may apply and your best options moving forward.