# Hinds County
**Hinds County** is a county in west-central [Mississippi](https://www.edgepedia.org/mississippi) whose seat, Jackson, is the state capital, making the county the center of Mississippi's government and a hub of its educational, economic, and cultural life. Founded in 1821 on land ceded by the Choctaw in the [Treaty of Doak's Stand](https://www.edgepedia.org/treaty-of-doaks-stand), it was named for General Thomas Hinds and has been the most populous county in Mississippi since 1860[1](https://mississippiencyclopedia.org/entries/hinds-county/). The 2020 Census counted 227,742 residents; the Census Bureau's estimate for July 1, 2025 was 211,888, a 7.0 percent decline from the April 2020 base[2](https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/hindscountymississippi/PST045224).
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Founded | February 1821, from the Choctaw cession of the Treaty of Doak's Stand; named for Gen. Thomas Hinds[1](https://mississippiencyclopedia.org/entries/hinds-county/) • [3](https://www.apps.mdah.ms.gov/nom/dist/1265.pdf) |
| County seat | Jackson, also the state capital; Raymond is a second county seat[1](https://mississippiencyclopedia.org/entries/hinds-county/) • [4](https://www.msgw.org/hinds/index.html) |
| Population | 227,742 at the 2020 Census; 211,888 estimated July 1, 2025, down 7.0 percent from 2020[2](https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/hindscountymississippi/PST045224) |
| Land area | 869.85 square miles; 261.8 people per square mile in 2020[5](https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/hindscountymississippi/EDU635224) |
| Race (2020-2024) | Black alone 70.4 percent; White alone 26.2 percent; Hispanic or Latino 3.0 percent[5](https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/hindscountymississippi/EDU635224) |
| Income and poverty | Median household income $49,402 (in 2024 dollars, 2020-2024); 22.2 percent of persons in poverty[5](https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/hindscountymississippi/EDU635224) |
| Employment | 84,440 jobs at 4,878 employer establishments in 2023; covered employment of 107,800 in March 2026, the highest of any Mississippi county[5](https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/hindscountymississippi/EDU635224) • [6](https://www.bls.gov/regions/southeast/news-release/countyemploymentandwages_mississippi.htm) |
| FIPS code | 28049[5](https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/hindscountymississippi/EDU635224) |
## Founding and name
The Treaty of Doak's Stand, negotiated by General Andrew Jackson and General Thomas Hinds and signed on October 18, 1820, opened a large part of west-central Mississippi, including what is now Hinds County, to European-American settlement. In February 1821 the entire Doak's Stand cession was established as Hinds County[3](https://www.apps.mdah.ms.gov/nom/dist/1265.pdf). The enabling act of February 12, 1821 defined the county's boundaries from the Choctaw boundary east of Pearl River down to the Mississippi and Yazoo rivers[7](https://msgw.org/history/hinds.htm).
In November 1821 the Mississippi Legislature directed the establishment of a town on the Pearl River near the center of the state to serve as the new capital, named Jackson for Andrew Jackson[3](https://www.apps.mdah.ms.gov/nom/dist/1265.pdf). The state government began meeting there in 1822[1](https://mississippiencyclopedia.org/entries/hinds-county/). Thomas Hinds (1780-1840) was a soldier and politician who fought in the [Creek War](https://www.edgepedia.org/creek-war) and the [War of 1812](https://www.edgepedia.org/war-of-1812), served as a commissioner in negotiating the 1820 treaty, and later represented Mississippi in the [United States Congress](https://www.edgepedia.org/united-states-congress)[8](https://mississippiencyclopedia.org/entries/hinds-thomas/).
## Geography and communities
The county covers 869.85 square miles of land, with a 2020 density of 261.8 people per square mile[5](https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/hindscountymississippi/EDU635224). The Pearl River runs through the county and Jackson[1](https://mississippiencyclopedia.org/entries/hinds-county/). Jackson is the county seat, and other towns include Raymond, Bolton, Clinton, Edwards, Learned, Terry, Tougaloo, and Utica[1](https://mississippiencyclopedia.org/entries/hinds-county/). Raymond and Jackson both serve as county seats[4](https://www.msgw.org/hinds/index.html). [Rankin County](https://www.edgepedia.org/rankin-county) was established in 1828 from land originally in Hinds County east of the Pearl River[9](https://parkplanning.nps.gov/showFile.cfm?projectID=38090&sfid=137394).
## Population
Hinds County has been Mississippi's most populous county since 1860[1](https://mississippiencyclopedia.org/entries/hinds-county/). Its population grew from 245,285 in the 2010 Census to a 2020 count of 227,742, a decline of 7.2 percent over the decade[5](https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/hindscountymississippi/EDU635224) • [10](https://extension.msstate.edu/sites/default/files/publications/hinds_county_census_profile.pdf). The Census Bureau's population estimates show continued decline, from 235,604 in 2020 to 218,533 in 2024 in one estimate series, and a July 1, 2025 estimate of 211,888[2](https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/hindscountymississippi/PST045224) • [11](https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/B03002001E028049).
The county's racial composition changed substantially in the late twentieth century: a two-thirds white majority became a two-thirds Black majority, a consequence of new African American arrivals and of white flight to neighboring counties[1](https://mississippiencyclopedia.org/entries/hinds-county/). In the 2020-2024 period, 70.4 percent of residents were Black alone and 26.2 percent White alone[5](https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/hindscountymississippi/EDU635224).
## Economy and living conditions
Jackson's role as the site of state government and the headquarters of numerous businesses and organizations anchors the county economy[1](https://mississippiencyclopedia.org/entries/hinds-county/). In 2023 the county had 4,878 employer establishments employing 84,440 people, with a total annual payroll of about $4.54 billion[5](https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/hindscountymississippi/EDU635224). The [Bureau of Labor Statistics](https://www.edgepedia.org/bureau-of-labor-statistics) reported covered employment of 107,800 in Hinds County in March 2026, the highest level in Mississippi, though down 1.2 percent over the year; the average weekly wage was $1,227[6](https://www.bls.gov/regions/southeast/news-release/countyemploymentandwages_mississippi.htm).
Household conditions trail state and national averages. Median household income was $49,402 in 2024 dollars (2020-2024), and 22.2 percent of persons were in poverty; the Census Reporter comparison puts the county's poverty rate at about 25 percent higher than Mississippi's 17.8 percent and nearly double the United States rate of 12.2 percent[5](https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/hindscountymississippi/EDU635224) • [12](https://censusreporter.org/profiles/05000US28049-hinds-county-ms/). Educational attainment is comparatively strong: 88.7 percent of residents age 25 and older had graduated high school or higher, and 31.2 percent held a bachelor's degree or higher, about 10 percent above the state rate[5](https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/hindscountymississippi/EDU635224) • [12](https://censusreporter.org/profiles/05000US28049-hinds-county-ms/).
## Government
The county is governed by a five-member Board of Supervisors, one from each district; the board describes county government as a service organization and meets on the first and third Mondays of each month in Jackson[13](https://www.hindscountyms.com/elected-offices/board-of-supervisors). Hinds County operates under the "Unit System" of government[14](https://www.hindscountyms.com/sites/default/files/annual_budget_fy_2019-2020.pdf). In February 2025 a Hinds County Chancery Court judge ruled that the Mississippi Legislature is not a public body subject to the state's Open Meetings Act, affirming a 2023 Mississippi Ethics Commission finding[15](https://apnews.com/article/56c87a605112bdbd7036579845309d92).
## History in brief
Antebellum Hinds County was an agricultural powerhouse: by 1860 it was the largest county in the state, with 8,776 free people and 22,363 enslaved people, and it ranked second in Mississippi in cotton production[1](https://mississippiencyclopedia.org/entries/hinds-county/). Jackson was the site of Mississippi's secession convention, and Union forces under [Ulysses S. Grant](https://www.edgepedia.org/ulysses-s-grant) took the city in May 1863 during the Vicksburg campaign, burning many buildings and giving the city the name Chimneyville[1](https://mississippiencyclopedia.org/entries/hinds-county/).
The county's population more than doubled to 187,045 between 1930 and 1960 and reached 250,998 by 1980[1](https://mississippiencyclopedia.org/entries/hinds-county/). In the 1950s and 1960s Jackson, with its large African American population and key institutions, became one of the centers of the state's civil rights movement; NAACP secretary [Medgar Evers](https://www.edgepedia.org/medgar-evers) led an extended boycott in 1962-63 and was murdered in June 1963[1](https://mississippiencyclopedia.org/entries/hinds-county/). The [University of Mississippi Medical Center](https://www.edgepedia.org/university-of-mississippi-medical-center) opened in Jackson in 1955 and drew international attention in 1963 and 1964 when surgeon James D. Hardy and his team performed the world's first lung and heart transplants[1](https://mississippiencyclopedia.org/entries/hinds-county/).
## References
1. [Hinds County, Mississippi Encyclopedia (Center for Study of Southern Culture)](https://mississippiencyclopedia.org/entries/hinds-county/)
2. [U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts: Hinds County, Mississippi (population estimates)](https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/hindscountymississippi/PST045224)
3. [National Register of Historic Places nomination, U.S. Department of the Interior / MDAH](https://www.apps.mdah.ms.gov/nom/dist/1265.pdf)
4. [Hinds County, MSGenWeb](https://www.msgw.org/hinds/index.html)
5. [U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts: Hinds County, Mississippi](https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/hindscountymississippi/EDU635224)
6. [County Employment and Wages in Mississippi, First Quarter 2026, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics](https://www.bls.gov/regions/southeast/news-release/countyemploymentandwages_mississippi.htm)
7. [Hinds County, Mississippi The Heart of the South (Dunbar Rowland), MSGenWeb](https://msgw.org/history/hinds.htm)
8. [Thomas Hinds, Mississippi Encyclopedia](https://mississippiencyclopedia.org/entries/hinds-thomas/)
9. [National Park Service, park planning document on Madison and Rankin counties](https://parkplanning.nps.gov/showFile.cfm?projectID=38090&sfid=137394)
10. [Hinds County Census Profile, Mississippi State University Extension](https://extension.msstate.edu/sites/default/files/publications/hinds_county_census_profile.pdf)
11. [Population Estimate, Total (5-year estimate) in Hinds County, MS, FRED, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis](https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/B03002001E028049)
12. [Hinds County, MS, Census Reporter](https://censusreporter.org/profiles/05000US28049-hinds-county-ms/)
13. [Board of Supervisors, Hinds County, Mississippi](https://www.hindscountyms.com/elected-offices/board-of-supervisors)
14. [Duties and Responsibilities, Hinds County Board of Supervisors](https://www.hindscountyms.com/sites/default/files/annual_budget_fy_2019-2020.pdf)
15. [Mississippi Legislature not a 'public body' and not subject to Open Meetings Act, judge rules, AP News](https://apnews.com/article/56c87a605112bdbd7036579845309d92)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Places and geography › Administrative and cadastral territories › Intermediate territorial subdivisions › Intermediate subdivisions of the United States and Canada › Gulf South counties*
*Initially written Oct 21, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license