Forrest County is a county located in the U.S. state of Mississippi. As of the 2020 census, the population was 78,158. Its county seat and largest city is Hattiesburg. The county was created from Perry County in 1908 and named in honor of Nathan Bedford Forrest, a Confederate general in the American Civil War and the first Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan. Forrest County is part of the Hattiesburg, MS Metropolitan Statistical Area.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 470 sqmi, of which 466 sqmi is land and 3.9 sqmi (0.8%) is water.

Major highways

Adjacent counties

National protected area

Demographics

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 78,158 people, 27,340 households, and 15,633 families residing in the county.

Communities

Cities

Census-designated places

Other unincorporated communities

Ghost towns

Politics

Forrest County has not supported the National Democratic ticket for president since 1944, when it voted overwhelmingly for Franklin Roosevelt in his landslide record fourth term victory. That is the longest such streak of any county in the state. Only twice since then has it not voted Republican, in 1948 when it backed the States Rights ticket of Strom Thurmond and then-Mississippi Governor Fielding Wright, and in 1968 when it voted for George Wallace and Curtis LeMay.

Education

There are three school districts in the county: Forrest County Schools, Hattiesburg Public School District, and Petal School District. Forrest County Agricultural High School is in the county. The county is in the zone of Pearl River Community College.