Crawford County is a county located in the Ozarks region of the U.S. state of Arkansas. As of the 2010 census, the population was 61,948, making it the twelfth-most populous of Arkansas's seventy-five counties. The county seat and largest city is Van Buren. Crawford County was formed on October 18, 1820 from the former Lovely County and Indian Territory, and was named for William H. Crawford, the United States Secretary of War in 1815.