Unfortunately I don’t know who first noted it. I stole it verbatim from the Kenedy County Wikipedia page<\/a> where it’s presented without attribution. I know what you are all thinking; “Oh 12MC, really<\/em>, Wikipedia? Can’t you do better than that?!?” Bear with me though, I’ll prove it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n By chance, my maintenance plan included an update of my individual state pages<\/a> that I use for county counting. I needed to upgrade data from a 2005 estimate to the most recent decennial census (2010) . Of course I’ve downloaded the necessary files to complete that. It’s a straightforward process to then merge the county land area file with the 2010 population file. Perform an easy mathematical calculation and sort by density, and voil\u00e0, we can create an image of counties in the United States with fewer than one person per square mile:<\/p>\n\n\n\n A few things to bear in mind as you ponder the results:<\/p>\n\n\n\n That red dot along the Gulf coast of Texas, the one that’s clearly the furthest east is indeed Kenedy County. The map demonstrates another salient point: not only is Kenedy County the easternmost territory with less than one person per square mile, it is the southernmost<\/em> too. I know we have some Wikipedia editors who are regular readers here. Any one of them should feel free to update the Kenedy page<\/a> to reflect both honors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I dare say there’s even a single spot on Padre Island<\/a> that covers both of these distinctions simultaneously. Frankly, that’s a point so trivial even I wouldn’t bring it up outside of the friendly confines of 12MC. I can imagine eyes glazing over at a cocktail party as we speak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Someone is bound to mention Alaska so let me go ahead and take that situation off the table before anyone wastes time with the comment gauntlet. Yes, we are all familiar with the trick question about Alaska being the easternmost state because a portion of the Aleutian Islands extend so far west that it crosses into the eastern hemisphere. Guess what? That segment falls within the Aleutians West Census Area. So does Unalaska\/Dutch Harbor with more than 4,000 residents. Throw in various smaller villages and the Aleutians West Census Area swells to 5,561 inhabitants on 4,390 square miles of land. Thus, it is one of the few areas of Alaska that has a density above one person per square mile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kenedy County didn’t get a lot of love in the comments from that earlier article, either. Possible explanations for its diminutive population included vast acreage occupied by the King Ranch<\/a> (see map<\/a>), being too far off the beaten track, and having unpleasant weather during the summer months. I started feeling sorry for Kenedy County. There had to be at least one redeeming feature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nChasing Down a Fact<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"County](\"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/graphics\/blog\/density-below-one.png\")
\n\n\n\nAmazing Kenedy<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Home to King Ranch<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
And Tony De La Rosa<\/h3>\n\n\n\n