McCracken County
McCracken County is a county located in the far western portion of Kentucky. As of the 2010 census, the population was 65,565. The county seat and only municipality is Paducah. The largest city in the Jackson Purchase region, it is located at the confluence of the Tennessee and the Ohio rivers, halfway between St. Louis, Missouri, to the northwest and Nashville, Tennessee, to the southeast. Paducah is the hub of its metropolitan area, which includes McCracken, Ballard and Livingston counties in Kentucky and Massac County in Illinois. Paducah is well known for its art district which includes the flood wall murals, a lower town artist relocation program, the Luther F. Carson Center for the Performing Arts, as well as higher education centers such as West Kentucky Community and Technical College and campuses for the University of Kentucky and Murray State University.
