Johnson County
Kentucky · County seat: Paintsville · Active county or equivalent
FIPS code 21115 is Johnson County, Kentucky. With a population of 22,631 (2022 ACS estimate), it ranks #52 in Kentucky and #1737 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
21115
Population
22,631
2022 ACS · #1737 nationally
Density
86.4/mi²
people per sq mile
Land Area
262
sq miles
Urban/Rural
Nonmetro — urban 2.5K–19.9K, not adjacent to metro
RUCC 7
How This FIPS Code Works
The 5-digit FIPS code 21115 is formed by combining the 2-digit state identifier 21 (Kentucky) with the 3-digit county identifier 115. Together they uniquely identify Johnson County in every US federal dataset. No two counties share the same 5-digit FIPS code.
Census ACS Data for FIPS 21115
From the 2022 ACS 5-year estimates — the same values you'd retrieve by querying the Census API with county FIPS 21115.
Median Household Income
$44,231
ACS B19013_001E
Poverty Rate
21.4%
ACS B17001 (below poverty level)
Median Age
41.7
ACS B01002_001E
Adjacent Counties (5)
Counties that share a border with Johnson County. Useful for regional analysis — these are the geographies you'd typically include when studying labor markets, commuting zones, or environmental spillovers around FIPS 21115.
Federal Datasets Using Code 21115
FIPS code 21115 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 21115 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:115",
"in": "state:21",
"key": "YOUR_CENSUS_API_KEY",
}
r = requests.get(url, params=params)
data = r.json() # [[header...], [Johnson County, Kentucky, income, pop, ...]-- 5-digit combined FIPS (state + county)
SELECT * FROM your_table WHERE county_fips = '21115';
-- Some datasets store state and county separately
SELECT * FROM your_table
WHERE state_fips = '21'
AND county_fips = '115';
-- ⚠ Never cast to integer — leading zeros are lost:
-- county_fips = 21115 is WRONG for this countylibrary(tidycensus)
get_acs(
geography = "county",
variables = c(income = "B19013_001E", pop = "B01003_001E"),
state = "21",
county = "115",
year = 2022
)ZIP Codes in Johnson 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 Johnson County. Why FIPS ≠ ZIP →
| ZIP Code | % in county |
|---|---|
| 41204 | 100.0% |
| 41260 | 100.0% |
| 41263 | 100.0% |
| 41268 | 100.0% |
| 41271 | 100.0% |
| 41274 | 100.0% |
| 41222 | 100.0% |
| 41226 | 100.0% |
| 41234 | 100.0% |
| 41238 | 100.0% |
| 41240 | 100.0% |
| 41255 | 100.0% |
| 41256 | 100.0% |
| 41257 | 100.0% |
| 41219 | 96.1% |
| 41254 | 92.3% |
| 41265 | 79.8% |
| 41216 | 33.6% |
| 41232 | 30.9% |