Carlisle County is a county located in the U.S. state of Kentucky. As of the 2020 census, the population was 4,826, making it the fourth-least populous county in Kentucky. Its county seat is Bardwell. The county was founded in 1886 and named for John Griffin Carlisle, a Speaker of the United States House of Representatives from Kentucky. It remains a prohibition or dry county. Carlisle County is included in the Paducah, KY-IL, Metropolitan Statistical Area.