Harlan County is a county located in the U.S. state of Kentucky. As of the 2010 census, the population was 29,278. Its county seat is Harlan. The county was formed in 1819. With regard to the sale of alcohol, it is classified as a moist county—a county in which alcohol sales are prohibited (a dry county), but containing a "wet" city, in this case Cumberland, where package alcohol sales are allowed.