THE OWSLEY COUNTY LAND BRIEF
Land in the
Dissected Appalachian Plateau setting.
Owsley County has 197.4 square miles of land in Kentucky. 2 mapped landscape regions meet across Owsley County: Dissected Appalachian Plateau, Ohio/Kentucky Carboniferous Plateau.
A rugged, deeply cut plateau of sandstone, shale and related rocks supports extensive forest. High hills and low mountains distinguish this Appalachian landscape from smoother neighboring regions.
Regional context: Central Appalachians ↗ · Regional mapping across the county footprint
Where the landscape changes
Owsley County intersects 2 mapped regional units. The largest mapped shares are:
- Dissected Appalachian Plateau62.6%
- Ohio/Kentucky Carboniferous Plateau37.4%
Western Allegheny Plateau in Owsley County
Rounded wooded hills and intervening valleys form an unglaciated plateau landscape. Valley floors contain much of the region's open land, contrasting with its more forested slopes.
Read the regional source ↗Finding your parcel within Owsley County
The atlas lists 1 cities, towns, townships, and Census communities associated with Owsley County, including Booneville. The list includes overlapping geography types and does not divide the county into exclusive service areas.
Owsley County by land and water
The Census records 0.89 square miles of water within Owsley County, or 0.4% of its total area. That share is close to Owsley County’s 0.4%. This is geographic context; waterfront status and usable land must be checked at the parcel.
For scale, Owsley County has 135.4 times the land area of nearby Booneville city (1.46 square miles). These areas describe boundaries, not comparable property prices.
The Census boundary meets Breathitt County, Clay County, Jackson County, Lee County, Perry County within Kentucky. A tract near one of these lines should be matched to the county identifier on its own records.

