Monterey County, California
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Image:Cannery Row at night.jpg
Cannery Row Monterey
Image:Fisherman's Wharf, Monterey.jpg
Fisherman's Wharf, Monterey
Image:North Salinas.jpg
Residential neighborhood, Harden Ranch, Salinas
Monterey County is a county located on the Pacific coast of the U.S. state of California, its northwestern section forming the southern half of Monterey Bay. The northern half of the bay is in Santa Cruz County. As of 2000, the population was 401,762. The county seat is Salinas. Monterey County is a member of the regional governmental agency, Association of Monterey Bay Area Governments. The coastline, including Big Sur, California Highway 1, and the 17 Mile Drive on the Monterey Peninsula has made the county world famous. The city of Monterey was the capital of California under Spanish and Mexican rule. The economy is primarily based upon tourism in the coastal regions, and agriculture in the Salinas River valley. Most of the county's people live near the northern coast and Salinas valley, while the southern coast and inland mountain regions are almost devoid of human habitation.
HistoryMonterey County was one of the original counties of California, created in 1850 at the time of statehood. Parts of the county were given to San Benito County in 1874. The county derived its name from Monterey Bay. The word itself is composed of the Spanish words monte and rey, which literally means "Hill" and "King". The bay was named by Sebastian Vizcaino in 1602, in honor of Gaspar de Zuniga y Acevedo, Conde de Monterrey, the Viceroy of New Spain. GeographyAccording to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 3,771 square miles (9,767 km²), of which, 3,322 square miles (8,604 km²) of it is land and 449 square miles (1,163 km²) of it (11.91%) is water. The county is roughly 1.5 times larger than the state of Delaware Cities and towns
Census-designated places
Other unincorporated communitiesOther locales
Adjacent counties
Transportation infrastructureMajor highways
Public transportationMonterey County is served by Amtrak trains and Greyhound Lines buses. Monterey-Salinas Transit provides transit service throughout most of Monterey County, with buses to Big Sur and King City as well as in Monterey, Salinas and Carmel. MST also runs service to San Jose. Airports
DemographicsAs of the census² of 2000, there were 401,762 people, 121,236 households, and 87,896 families residing in the county. The population density was 121 people per square mile (47/km²). There were 131,708 housing units at an average density of 40 per square mile (15/km²). The racial makeup of the county was 55.92% White, 3.75% Black or African American, 1.05% Native American, 6.03% Asian, 0.45% Pacific Islander, 27.82% from other races, and 4.98% from two or more races. 46.79% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. 6.3% were of German and 5.4% English ancestry according to Census 2000. 52.9% spoke English, 39.6% Spanish and 1.6% Tagalog as their first language. Note that the county is divided by race, with higher-income Whites and Asians living near the coastal areas, and virtually all Latinos (including an enormous number of illegal immigrants) live in the Salinas Valley due to its agricultural productivity. There were 121,236 households out of which 39.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 56.0% were married couples living together, 11.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 27.5% were non-families. 21.2% of all households were made up of individuals and 8.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.14 and the average family size was 3.65. In the county the population was spread out with 28.4% under the age of 18, 10.9% from 18 to 24, 31.4% from 25 to 44, 19.3% from 45 to 64, and 10.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 32 years. For every 100 female residents there were 107.3 male residents. For every 100 female residents age 18 and over, there were 107.7 male residents. The median income for a household in the county was $48,305, and the median income for a family was $51,169. Men had a median income of $38,444 versus $30,036 for women. The per capita income for the county was $20,165. About 9.7% of families and 13.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 17.4% of those under age 18 and 6.8% of those age 65 or over. Politics
Monterey County is considered to be a Democratic-leaning county in Presidential and congressional elections. The county voted for Al Gore in 2000 and John Kerry in 2004. The last Republican to win a majority in the county was Ronald Reagan in 1984. Monterey is part of California's 17th congressional district, which is represented by Democrat Sam Farr. In the State Assembly, Monterey is part of the 27th and 28th districts, which are held by Democrats John Laird and Anna Caballero, respectively. Laird was first elected to the Assembly in November 2002; Caballero in November 2006. In the State Senate, a small part of Monterey is in the 12th district; most of the county is in the 15th. The 12th district is held by Republican Jeff Denham and the 15th by Republican Abel Maldonado, who is considered to be moderate. Denham was first elected to the Senate in November 2002; Maldonado in November 2004. Environmental featuresImage:CalifCentralCoast.jpg
Midcounty coastline with the McWay Rocks in foreground.
Monterey County has habitat to support the following endangered species:
Home prices
 As of December 2005, Monterey County ranked among America's ten most expensive counties with Santa Barbara County topping the list with a median home price of $753,790. In Monterey County, the median home price was $699,900. In the northern, more densely populated part in the county, the median home price was even higher, at $712,500, making it the fourth most expensive housing market in California. The disparity between the median household income of roughly $48,305 and the median home price of $700k has been cause for recent concern over excluding potential home buyers from the market. See alsoReferencesExternal links
Coordinates: ar:مقاطعة مونتيري، كاليفورنيا bg:Монтерей (окръг, Калифорния) de:Monterey County es:Condado de Monterey fr:Comté de Monterey bpy:মোন্টোরি কাউন্টি, ক্যালিফোর্নিয়া it:Contea di Monterey pam:Monterey County, California nl:Monterey County no:Monterey County nds:Monterey County pt:Condado de Monterey sv:Monterey County | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
