Carter County is a county located in the central western portion of the Ozark Foothills Region in Southeast Missouri in the United States. As of the 2000 U.S. Census, the county's population was 5,941. A 2008 estimate, however, showed the population to be 5,890. The largest city and county seat is Van Buren. The county was officially organized on March 10, 1859, and is named after Zimri A. Carter, a pioneer settler who came to Missouri from South Carolina in 1812.






















