Rankin County, Mississippi

Rankin County, Mississippi
Rankin County is a county located in the U.S. state of Mississippi. The western border of the county is formed by the Pearl River. As of the 2020 census, the population was 157,031, making it the fourth-most populous county in Mississippi. The county seat is Brandon. The county is named in honor of Christopher Rankin, a Mississippi Congressman who served from 1819 to 1826.
Rankin County is part of the Jackson Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Geography
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (3.8%) is water.
Adjacent counties
Madison County (north)
Scott County (east)
Smith County (southeast)
Simpson County (south)
Hinds County (west)
Demographics
As of the 2020 United States census, there were 157,031 people, 57,011 households, and 39,676 families residing in the county.
Transportation
Major highways
Interstate 20
Interstate 55
U.S. Highway 80
U.S. Highway 49
Mississippi Highway 13
Mississippi Highway 18
Mississippi Highway 25
Mississippi Highway 43
Mississippi Highway 468
Mississippi Highway 469
Mississippi Highway 471
Mississippi Highway 475
Airport
Jackson Evers International Airport is located in unincorporated Rankin County.
Government
The Mississippi Department of Corrections (MDOC) operates the Central Mississippi Correctional Facility (CMCF), located in unincorporated Rankin County. CMCF houses the state's female death row inmates. MDOC also operates the Brandon Probation and Parole Office in Brandon. In 2007 the Mississippi Highway Patrol opened a driver's license facility across the highway from the prison.
The Mississippi State Hospital of the Mississippi Department of Mental Health is in Whitfield in unincorporated Rankin County. It occupies the former Rankin Farm prison grounds. In 1935, the Mississippi State Insane Asylum moved from a complex of 19th-century buildings in northern Jackson, the capital, to its current location.
The Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality operates the Central Regional Office and the MDEQ Laboratory in unincorporated Rankin County.
Rankin County is one of the most conservative counties in the state, with Republican candidates normally receiving 70% or so of the popular vote. The county last supported the official Democratic candidate for president in 1956, which is also the last time a Democrat got even 40 percent of the county's vote. While conservative Democrats held most local offices well into the 1980s, today there are almost no elected Democrats left above the county level.
Law enforcement
The Mississippi Department of Public Safety operates the Mississippi Law Enforcement Officers' Training Academy (MLEOTA) on a property in Rankin County, near CMCF and the MSH, from Jackson.
In February 2023, the Department of Justice opened a civil rights investigation into conduct of the Rankin County Sheriffs department. The investigation is centered on a January 24, 2023 incident where deputies searched the house of Michael Jenkins and Eddie Parker. Jenkins and Parker, both African-Americans, allege that six deputies turned-off their body cameras, tortured them for two hours, shocked them with tasers, repeatedly shouted racial slurs, and shot one of them in the mouth. In June 2023, Jenkins and Parker filed a $400M lawsuit against Sheriff Bryan Bailey and six deputies. In late June, the Sheriff announced that some deputies involved had been terminated or resigned from their jobs, and that the department hired a "compliance officer" to monitor the Sheriff department's daily operations. An investigation by the Associated Press determined that the Sheriff's Special Response Team had been involved in four violent incidents with African-Americans since 2019, resulting in two deaths.
Communities
Cities
Brandon (county seat)
Florence
Flowood
Jackson (mostly in Hinds County, also in Madison County)
Pearl
Richland
Towns
Pelahatchie
Village
Puckett
Census-designated places
Cleary
Robinhood
Other unincorporated communities
Cross Roads
Fannin
Goshen Springs
Greenfield
Gulde
Johns
Langford
Leesburg
Piney Woods
Pisgah
Sand Hill
Star
Whitfield
Former communities
Cato
Comeby
Crossgates Farm
Dobson
Lynwood
Value
Education
Pearl Public School District and Rankin County School District are the two school districts in the county.
Private schools in the county are East Rankin Academy in Pelahatchie, Park Place Christian Academy in Pearl, and Jackson Preparatory School in Flowood.
See also
National Register of Historic Places listings in Rankin County, Mississippi
Anse, Mississippi
References
External links
The Rankin Chamber of Commerce
Rankin County Genealogy and Historical Page
Rankin County Website
Mississippi counties
Jackson metropolitan area, Mississippi
1828 establishments in Mississippi
Populated places established in 1828