Lee County, Alabama

Lee County
County
Main façade of Lee Courthouse, 2009
Motto:  "The Heart of Dixie"
Location within the U.S. state of Alabama
Alabama's location within the U.S.
Coordinates: 32°36′05″N 85°21′13″W / 32.601388888889°N 85.353611111111°W / 32.601388888889; -85.353611111111
Country	United States
State	Alabama
Founded	December 5, 1866; 157 years ago (1866-12-05)
Named for	General Robert E. Lee
Seat	Opelika
Largest city	Auburn
Area
• Total	616 sq mi (1,600 km2)
• Land	608 sq mi (1,570 km2)
• Water	8.3 sq mi (21 km2)  1.3%
Population  (2020)
• Total	174,241
• Estimate  (2023)	183,215
• Density	280/sq mi (110/km2)
Time zone	UTC−6 (Central)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−5 (CDT)
Congressional district	3rd
Website	www.leeco.us
County Number 43 on Alabama License Plates Largest County by population not shuffled to top 08 on Alabama License Plates

Lee County is a county located in east central Alabama. As of the 2020 census the population was 174,241.^[1] The county seat is Opelika,^[2] and the largest city is Auburn. The county was established in 1866 and is named for General Robert E. Lee (1807–1870), who served as General in Chief of the Armies of the Confederate States in 1865.^[3] Lee County comprises the Auburn-Opelika, AL Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is included in the Columbus-Auburn-Opelika, GA-AL Combined Statistical Area.