Stone County, MS

Stone County, Mississippi
Stone County Courthouse in Wiggins
Location in the U.S. state of Mississippi
Mississippi's location in the U.S.
Founded	1916
Named for	John M. Stone
Seat	Wiggins
Largest city	Wiggins
Area
• Total	448 sq mi (1,160 km2)
• Land	445 sq mi (1,153 km2)
• Water	2.6 sq mi (7 km2), 0.6%
Population
• (2010)	17,786
• Density	40/sq mi (15/km²)
Congressional district	4th
Time zone	Central: UTC-6/-5
Website	www.stonecountygov.com

Stone County is a county located in the U.S. state of Mississippi. As of the 2010 census, the population was 17,786. Its county seat is Wiggins. Stone County was formed from the northern portion of Harrison County on June 5, 1916. The county was named for John M. Stone, who served as Governor of Mississippi from 1876 to 1882 and again from 1890 to 1896.

In 1918, the Stone County Courthouse was completed at a cost of $29,515.18, and is still in use today, after several renovations.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 448 square miles (1,160 km²), of which 445 square miles (1,150 km²) is land and 2.6 square miles (6.7 km²) (0.6%) is water.

As of the census of 2010, there were 17,786 people, 6,165 households, and 4,539 families residing in the county. The population density was 39.9 people per square mile (15.33/km²). There were 7,161 housing units at an average density of 16 per square mile (6/km²). The racial makeup of the county was 78.6% White, 19.1% Black or African American, with 2.3% being of other racial categories. 1.3% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

31.5% of households had children under the age of 18 living with them, 54.5% were married couples living together, 14.4% had a female householder with no husband present, 4.7% had a male household with no wife present, and 26.4% were non-families. 22.5% of all households were made up of individuals and 8.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.68 and the average family size was 3.13.