FIPS code 21109 is Jackson County, Kentucky. With a population of 13,002 (2022 ACS estimate), it ranks #84 in Kentucky and #2280 nationally. The state FIPS code for Kentucky is 21. This code is used in Census Bureau, BLS, EPA, HUD, and USDA federal datasets to identify this county.
County FIPS
21109
Population
13,002
2022 ACS · #2280 nationally
Density
37.7/mi²
people per sq mile
Land Area
345
sq miles
Urban/Rural
Nonmetro — completely rural
RUCC 9
How This FIPS Code Works
The 5-digit FIPS code 21109 is formed by combining the 2-digit state identifier 21 (Kentucky) with the 3-digit county identifier 109. Together they uniquely identify Jackson County in every US federal dataset. No two counties share the same 5-digit FIPS code.
Census ACS Data for FIPS 21109
From the 2022 ACS 5-year estimates — the same values you'd retrieve by querying the Census API with county FIPS 21109.
Median Household Income
$38,516
ACS B19013_001E
Poverty Rate
22.6%
ACS B17001 (below poverty level)
Median Age
40.9
ACS B01002_001E
Adjacent Counties (7)
Counties that share a border with Jackson County. Useful for regional analysis — these are the geographies you'd typically include when studying labor markets, commuting zones, or environmental spillovers around FIPS 21109.
Federal Datasets Using Code 21109
FIPS code 21109 appears as the county identifier in the following federal datasets. Analysts joining data across these sources use this code as the common geographic key.
Using FIPS Code 21109 in Code
Common patterns for querying federal datasets by this county's FIPS code. The leading zeros are significant — always treat FIPS codes as strings, not integers.
import requests
url = "https://api.census.gov/data/2022/acs/acs5"
params = {
"get": "NAME,B19013_001E,B01003_001E",
"for": "county:109",
"in": "state:21",
"key": "YOUR_CENSUS_API_KEY",
}
r = requests.get(url, params=params)
data = r.json() # [[header...], [Jackson County, Kentucky, income, pop, ...]
-- 5-digit combined FIPS (state + county)
SELECT * FROM your_table WHERE county_fips = '21109';
-- Some datasets store state and county separately
SELECT * FROM your_table
WHERE state_fips = '21'
AND county_fips = '109';
-- ⚠ Never cast to integer — leading zeros are lost:
-- county_fips = 21109 is WRONG for this county
library(tidycensus)
get_acs(
geography = "county",
variables = c(income = "B19013_001E", pop = "B01003_001E"),
state = "21",
county = "109",
year = 2022
)
ZIP Codes in Jackson County
ZIP codes do not align perfectly with county boundaries — a single ZIP code can span multiple counties, and a county can contain parts of many ZIP codes. The ratios below (from the Census 2020 ZCTA relationship file) show the land area share of each ZCTA that falls within Jackson County. Why FIPS ≠ ZIP →
| ZIP Code | % in county |
|---|---|
| 40402 | 100.0% |
| 40434 | 100.0% |
| 40481 | 100.0% |
| 40447 | 94.5% |
| 40486 | 90.5% |
| 40336 | 1.7% |