Calhoun County, Alabama#Politics

{{Infobox U.S. county

| county = Calhoun County

| state = Alabama

| seal = Seal of Calhoun County, Alabama.png

| founded year = 1832
as Benton County

| founded date = December 18

| seat wl = Anniston

| largest city wl = Oxford

| area_total_sq_mi = 612

| area_land_sq_mi = 606

| area_water_sq_mi = 6.4

| area percentage = 1.0

| population_as_of = 2020

| population_total = 116441

| pop_est_as_of = 2023

| population_est = 116429 {{decrease}}

| population_density_sq_mi = auto

| time zone = Central

| web = www.calhouncounty.org

| ex image = Calhoun County, Alabama Courthouse.JPG

| ex image cap = Calhoun County Courthouse in Anniston

| district = 3rd

| named for = John C. Calhoun

| footnotes =

County Number 11 on Alabama License Plates

}}

Calhoun County is a county in the east central part of the U.S. state of Alabama. As of the 2020 census, the population was 116,441.{{cite web|title=State & County QuickFacts|url=https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/calhouncountyalabama/PST045222|publisher=United States Census Bureau|access-date=September 14, 2023}} Its county seat is Anniston.{{cite web|url=http://www.naco.org/Counties/Pages/FindACounty.aspx |access-date=June 7, 2011 |title=Find a County |publisher=National Association of Counties |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110531210815/http://www.naco.org/Counties/Pages/FindACounty.aspx |archive-date=May 31, 2011 }} It is named in honor of John C. Calhoun, a US Senator from South Carolina.

Calhoun County comprises the Anniston-Oxford Metropolitan Statistical Area.

History

Benton County was established on December 18, 1832, named for Thomas Hart Benton, a member of the United States Senate from Missouri. Its county seat was Jacksonville. Benton, an enslaver, was a political ally of John C. Calhoun, a U.S. senator from South Carolina, and also a slaveholder and planter. Through the 1820s-1840s, however, Benton's and Calhoun's political interests diverged. Calhoun was increasingly interested in using the threat of secession as a weapon to maintain and expand slavery throughout the United States. Benton, on the other hand, was slowly concluding that slavery was wrong and that the preservation of the union was paramount. On January 29, 1858,{{cite book |title=Acts of the Sixth Biennial Session of the General Assembly of Alabama held in the City of Montgomery, Commencing on the Second Monday in November, 1857. |date=November 1857 |publisher=N. B. Cloud, State Printer |location=Montgomery, Alabama |page=318 |url=https://archive.org/details/alabama-acts-1857-1858/Acts_1857_1858/page/n317/mode/1up |access-date=November 23, 2021 |quote=No. 306. - AN ACT - To change the name of Benton county to Calhoun.}} Alabama supporters of slavery, objecting to Benton's change of heart, renamed Benton County as Calhoun County.

During the Reconstruction era and widespread violence by whites to suppress black and white Republican voting in the state during the campaign for the 1870 gubernatorial election, four blacks and one white were lynched.{{cite book|last=Shapiro|first=Herbert|title=White Violence and Black Response: From Reconstruction to Montgomery|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SXGn2uPGJ6EC&pg=PA12|year=1988|publisher=U of Massachusetts P|isbn=9780870235788|page=12}}

After years of controversy and a State Supreme Court ruling in June 1900, the county seat was moved to Anniston.

The county was hit by an F4 tornado during the 1994 Palm Sunday tornado outbreak on March 27, 1994. Twelve minutes after the National Weather Service of Birmingham issued a tornado warning for northern Calhoun, southeastern Etowah, and southern Cherokee counties, the tornado destroyed Piedmont's Goshen United Methodist Church.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the county has a total area of {{convert|612|sqmi}}, of which {{convert|606|sqmi}} is land and {{convert|6.4|sqmi}} (1.0%) is water.{{cite web|url=http://www2.census.gov/geo/docs/maps-data/data/gazetteer/counties_list_01.txt|publisher=United States Census Bureau|access-date=August 22, 2015|date=August 22, 2012|title=2010 Census Gazetteer Files}}

=Adjacent counties=

Cherokee County - northeast
Cleburne County - east
Talladega County - south
St. Clair County - west
Etowah County - northwest

= National protected areas =

Transportation

=Major highways=

=Rail=

=Transit=

Areawide Community Transportation System

Demographics

{{US Census population

|1840= 14260

|1850= 17163

|1860= 21539

|1870= 13980

|1880= 19591

|1890= 33835

|1900= 34874

|1910= 39115

|1920= 47822

|1930= 55611

|1940= 63319

|1950= 79539

|1960= 95878

|1970= 103092

|1980= 119761

|1990= 116034

|2000= 112249

|2010= 118572

|2020= 116441

|estyear=2023

|estimate=116429

|estref={{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/popest/data/tables.html|title=Annual Estimates of the Resident Population for Counties: April 1, 2020 to July 1, 2023|publisher=United States Census Bureau|access-date=March 27, 2024}}

|align-fn=center

|footnote=U.S. Decennial Census{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/decennial-census.html|title=U.S. Decennial Census|publisher=United States Census Bureau|access-date=August 22, 2015}}
1790–1960{{cite web|url=http://mapserver.lib.virginia.edu|title=Historical Census Browser|publisher=University of Virginia Library|access-date=August 22, 2015}} 1900–1990{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/population/cencounts/al190090.txt|title=Population of Counties by Decennial Census: 1900 to 1990|publisher=United States Census Bureau|editor-last=Forstall|editor-first=Richard L.|date=March 24, 1995|access-date=August 22, 2015}}
1990–2000{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/population/www/cen2000/briefs/phc-t4/tables/tab02.pdf|title=Census 2000 PHC-T-4. Ranking Tables for Counties: 1990 and 2000|publisher=United States Census Bureau|date=April 2, 2001|access-date=August 22, 2015}} 2010–2020

}}

=2020 Census=

class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"

|+Calhoun County, Alabama – Racial and ethnic composition
{{nobold|Note: the US Census treats Hispanic/Latino as an ethnic category. This table excludes Latinos from the racial categories and assigns them to a separate category. Hispanics/Latinos may be of any race.}}

!Race / Ethnicity (NH = Non-Hispanic)

!Pop 2000{{Cite web|title=P004 Hispanic or Latino, and Not Hispanic or Latino by Race – 2000: DEC Summary File 1 – Calhoun County, Alabama|url=https://data.census.gov/table?q=p004&g=050XX00US01015&tid=DECENNIALSF12000.P004|website=United States Census Bureau}}

!Pop 2010{{Cite web|title=P2 Hispanic or Latino, and Not Hispanic or Latino by Race – 2010: DEC Redistricting Data (PL 94-171) – Calhoun County, Alabama|url=https://data.census.gov/table?q=p2&g=050XX00US01015&tid=DECENNIALPL2010.P2|website=United States Census Bureau}}

!{{partial|Pop 2020}}{{Cite web|title=P2 Hispanic or Latino, and Not Hispanic or Latino by Race – 2020: DEC Redistricting Data (PL 94-171) – Calhoun County, Alabama|url=https://data.census.gov/cedsci/table?q=p2&g=050XX00US01015&tid=DECENNIALPL2020.P2|website=United States Census Bureau}}

!% 2000

!% 2010

!{{partial|% 2020}}

White alone (NH)

|87,598

|87,285

|style='background: #ffffe6; |79,519

|78.04%

|73.61%

|style='background: #ffffe6; |68.29%

Black or African American alone (NH)

|20,725

|24,177

|style='background: #ffffe6; |23,365

|18.46%

|20.39%

|style='background: #ffffe6; |21.78%

Native American or Alaska Native alone (NH)

|427

|480

|style='background: #ffffe6; |386

|0.38%

|0.40%

|style='background: #ffffe6; |0.33%

Asian alone (NH)

|625

|830

|style='background: #ffffe6; |1,164

|0.56%

|0.70%

|style='background: #ffffe6; |1.00%

Pacific Islander alone (NH)

|74

|94

|style='background: #ffffe6; |112

|0.07%

|0.08%

|style='background: #ffffe6; |0.10%

Other race alone (NH)

|85

|109

|style='background: #ffffe6; |317

|0.08%

|0.09%

|style='background: #ffffe6; |0.27%

Mixed race or Multiracial (NH)

|862

|1,704

|style='background: #ffffe6; |4,568

|0.86%

|1.44%

|style='background: #ffffe6; |3.92%

Hispanic or Latino (any race)

|1,753

|3,893

|style='background: #ffffe6; |5,010

|1.56%

|3.28%

|style='background: #ffffe6; |4.30%

Total

|112,249

|118,572

|style='background: #ffffe6; |116,441

|100.00%

|style='background: #ffffe6; |100.00%

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 116,441 people, 44,636 households, and 28,975 families residing in the county.

=2010 census=

As of the census{{cite web |url=https://www.census.gov |publisher=United States Census Bureau |access-date=July 9, 2015 |title=U.S. Census website }} of 2010, there were 118,572 people, 47,331 households, and 31,609 families residing in the county. The population density was {{convert|194|/mi2|/km2|disp=preunit|people |people}}. There were 53,289 housing units at an average density of {{convert|87|/mi2|/km2|disp=preunit|units |units|}}. The racial makeup of the county was 74.9% White, 20.6% Black or African American, 0.5% Native American, 0.7% Asian, 0.1% Pacific Islander, 1.6% from other races, and 1.7% from two or more races. 3.3% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

There were 47,331 households, out of which 26.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 46.8% were married couples living together, 15.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 33.2% were non-families. 27.7% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.44 and the average family size was 2.97.

In the county, the population was spread out, with 22.9% under the age of 18, 10.9% from 18 to 24, 24.8% from 25 to 44, 27.1% from 45 to 64, and 14.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38.2 years. For every 100 females there were 93.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 94.8 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $38,407, and the median income for a family was $49,532. Males had a median income of $41,599 versus $29,756 for females. The per capita income for the county was $20,574. About 15.2% of families and 19.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 26.8% of those under age 18 and 10.9% of those age 65 or over.

Education

Calhoun County contains five public school districts. There are approximately 17,000 students in public K-12 schools in Calhoun County.{{Cite web |title=Search for Public School Districts - Calhoun County, AL |url=https://nces.ed.gov/ccd/districtsearch/district_list.asp?Search=1&State=01&County=Calhoun+County |access-date=August 27, 2022 |website=National Center for Education Statistics |publisher=Institute of Education Sciences}} Public school districts are not conterminous with the county boundary.

The county contains two public higher education institutions. Gadsden State Community College operates a campus located in Anniston, and Jacksonville State University, founded in 1883 and with an enrollment of over 9,000 students, is located in Jacksonville.

=Districts=

School districts include:{{Cite web |title=2020 Census - School District Reference Map: Calhoun County, AL |url=https://www2.census.gov/geo/maps/DC2020/PL20/st01_al/schooldistrict_maps/c01015_calhoun/DC20SD_C01015.pdf |access-date=August 27, 2022 |publisher=United States Census Bureau }} [https://www2.census.gov/geo/maps/DC2020/PL20/st01_al/schooldistrict_maps/c01015_calhoun/DC20SD_C01015_SD2MS.txt Text list].

Politics

The last Democrat to win a majority in the county was Jimmy Carter in 1976. In 2016 and 2020, Republican Donald Trump won more than two-thirds of the county's vote.

{{PresHead|place=Calhoun County, Alabama|source={{cite web|title=Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections|url=http://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/|access-date=November 15, 2016}}}}