Kericho County

County slopes gently from 2500m to about 1,800m above the sea level. The county is surrounded by a number of hills such as Tinderet Hills to the North, Mau Escarpment and Londiani hills (Tuluap-Kipsigis). A good number of rivers emanate from the county including Chemosit, Kiptaret, Kipsonoi, Timbilil, Maramara, Itare, Nyando, Kipchorian and Malaget.^[3]

County has a temperature range between 10C - 29C and rainfall of 2,125mm p.a being highest in central part of county where they plant tea and 1,400 mm p.a. in lower parts of Soin and parts of Kipkelion. County has rainy seasons April to June and October to December.^[4]

According to the 2019 Kenya Population and Housing Census, Kericho County had a total population of 901,777 of which 450,741 are males, 451,008 females and 28 intersex persons. There are 206,036 household with an average household size of 4.4 persons per household and a population density 370 people per square kilometre.^[5]

The total population of Kericho is estimated to have grown significantly. Official projections from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS)^[6] suggest that the county's population will reach approximately 1.2M by 2030-40, with a 2026 estimate of roughly one million people.

Source^[7]

The county hosts 25 trading centres, 5,813 registered businesses, 5807 licensed retail traders and 5,740 licensed wholesale traders.^[27] In 2022, the county produced 432 million kilos of tea.^[28] The acquisition of these lands has long been controversial, particularly as it relates to the eviction of Kipsigis and Talai people from their land by British forces when Kenya was a British colony. The United Nations has criticised the British government for not providing "effective remedies and reparation" for colonial-era crimes,^[29] with representatives for these communities attempting to sue the British government through the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).^[30]

There are a number of industries in Kericho such as cement industry (Rai Cement Limited) and steel industry (Prime Steel Limited), Soin Sugar Company all three of them located in Soin ward, 18 tea processing factories, in various sub-counties, dairy processing plants in various sub-counties and Kipkelion District coffee union process coffee in Fort Ternan, Kipkelion Sub-county.^[3] The use of tea plucking machines has been controversial in the area, leading to acts of industrial sabotage by disaffected youths.^[31]

There are 1,222 ECD centres, 1,059 primary schools, and 494 secondary schools. The county has also teachers training colleges, 43 Youth Polytechnics, 80 adult training institutions and 11 technical training institutions.^[4]

Source^[32][33][27]

Kericho County has a total of 435 operational health facilities. This total includes public, private, and faith-based providers that have been integrated into the national Social Health Authority (SHA) framework for service delivery. The county has achieved an immunization coverage of 90% for essential vaccines like the third dose of the pentavalent vaccine. In July 2025, Kericho rolled out a massive 10-day integrated campaign^[34] targeting 95% coverage for measles, rubella, and typhoid to close the immunity gaps that widened during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Source^[35][36][3]

The county is covered by 1,110.7 km of road network. of this 411.1 km is covered by earth surface, 484.7 km is murram surface and 214.9 km is covered by bitumen.^[37][38]

There are 8 Post Offices with 2,299 installed letter boxes, 2,079 rented letter boxes and 220 vacant letter boxes.^[27]

• Baringo County
• Bomet County
• Bungoma County
• Kakamega County
• Kisii County
• Kisumu County
• Nakuru County
• Nandi County
• Uasin Gishu County