Monterey County, California

Information about Monterey County, California

Monterey County, California
Map
Enlarge picture
Map of California highlighting Monterey County

Location in the state of California
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Map of the USA highlighting California

California's location in the USA
Statistics
Founded1850
SeatSalinas
Area
 - Total
 - Land
 - Water
9,767 km² (3,771 mi²)
8,604 km² (3,322 mi²)
1,163 km² (449 mi²), 11.91%
Population
 - (2000)
 - Density
401,762
47/km 
Website: www.co.monterey.ca.us
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Salinas Valley
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Carmel
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Downtown Monterey
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Fisherman's Wharf, Monterey
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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 beautiful 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.

History

Monterey 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.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 9,767 km² (3,771 mi²). 8,604 km² (3,322 mi²) of it is land and 1,163 km² (449 mi²) of it (11.91%) is water.

Cities and towns

Census-designated places

Other unincorporated communities

Other locales

Adjacent counties

Transportation infrastructure

Major highways

Public transportation

Monterey 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

Demographics

As 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 47/km² (121/mi²). There were 131,708 housing units at an average density of 15/km² (40/mi²). 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. 52.9% spoke English, 39.6% Spanish and 1.6% Tagalog as their first language.

There were 121,236 households out of which 39.10% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 56.00% were married couples living together, 11.60% had a female householder with no husband present, and 27.50% were non-families. 21.20% of all households were made up of individuals and 8.20% 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 28.40% under the age of 18, 10.90% from 18 to 24, 31.40% from 25 to 44, 19.30% from 45 to 64, and 10.00% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 32 years. For every 100 female residents there were 107.30 male residents. For every 100 female residents age 18 and over, there were 107.70 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 9.70% of families and 13.50% of the population were below the poverty line, including 17.40% of those under age 18 and 6.80% of those age 65 or over.

Environmental features

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Midcounty coastline with the McWay Rocks in foreground.
Monterey County has habitat to support the following endangered species:

Home prices

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An average 1,800 sq ft (0 m) home Salinas' desirable north-western district valued at roughly $700k
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 also

References

External links

  •  • [ e] Municipalities and communities of
Monterey County, California
County seat: Salinas
Cities Carmel-by-the-Sea | Del Rey Oaks | Gonzales | Greenfield | King City | Marina | Monterey | Pacific Grove | Salinas | Sand City | Seaside | Soledad
CDPs Aromas | Boronda | Bradley | Carmel Valley Village | Castroville | Chualar | Del Monte Forest | Elkhorn | Las Lomas | Moss Landing | Pajaro | Prunedale | San Ardo | San Lucas | Spreckels
Communities Carmel Highlands | Gorda | Jolon | Lucia | Parkfield | Pebble Beach
 •  • [ e]
State of California
Sacramento (capital)
Topics Climate | Culture | Districts | Economy | Elections | Geography | Government | Early History | Modern History | Politics | Californians
Regions Antelope Valley | Big Sur | Cascade Range | Central Coast | Central Valley | Channel Islands | Coachella Valley | Conejo Valley | Cucamonga Valley | Death Valley | East Bay (SF) | Eastern California | Emerald Triangle | Gold Country | Great Basin | Greater Los Angeles | Inland Empire | Lake Tahoe | Los Angeles Basin | Mojave | North Bay (SF) | North Coast | Northern California | Owens Valley | The Peninsula | Pomona Valley | Redwood Empire | Russian River | Sacramento Valley | San Fernando Valley | San Francisco Bay Area | San Joaquin Valley | Santa Clarita Valley | Shasta Cascade | Sierra Nevada | Silicon Valley | South Bay (SF) | Southern California | Tech Coast | Tri‑Valley | Wine Country | Yosemite
Metro areas Bakersfield | Chico | El Centro | Fresno | Los Angeles–Long Beach–Glendale | Madera | Modesto | Merced | Napa | Oakland–Fremont–Hayward | Oxnard–Thousand Oaks–Ventura | Redding | Riverside–San Bernardino–Ontario | Sacramento–Roseville | Salinas | San Diego–Carlsbad–San Marcos | San Francisco–San Mateo–Redwood City | San Jose–Sunnyvale–Santa Clara | Santa Ana–Anaheim–Irvine | Santa Barbara–Santa Maria | Santa Cruz–Watsonville | Santa Rosa–Petaluma | Stockton | Vallejo–Fairfield | Visalia–Porterville | Yuba City
Counties Alameda | Alpine | Amador | Butte | Calaveras | Colusa | Contra Costa | Del Norte | El Dorado | Fresno | Glenn | Humboldt | Imperial | Inyo | Kern | Kings | Lake | Lassen | Los Angeles | Madera | Marin | Mariposa | Mendocino | Merced | Modoc | Mono | Monterey | Napa | Nevada | Orange | Placer | Plumas | Riverside | Sacramento | San Benito | San Bernardino | San Diego | San Francisco | San Joaquin | San Luis Obispo | San Mateo | Santa Barbara | Santa Clara | Santa Cruz | Shasta | Sierra | Siskiyou | Solano | Sonoma | Stanislaus | Sutter | Tehama | Trinity | Tulare | Tuolumne | Ventura | Yolo | Yuba


Coordinates:
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Motto
"In God We Trust"   (since 1956)
"E Pluribus Unum"   ("From Many, One"; Latin, traditional)
Anthem
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18th century - 19th century - 20th century
1820s  1830s  1840s  - 1850s -  1860s  1870s  1880s
1847 1848 1849 - 1850 - 1851 1852 1853

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Subjects:     Archaeology - Architecture -
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A county seat is a term for an administrative center for a county, primarily used in the United States. In the Northeast United States, the statutory term often is shire town, but colloquially county seat is the term in use there.
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City of Salinas, California

Seal
Nickname: America's Salad Bowl
Location of Salinas, California
Coordinates:
Country United States
State
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Area is a physical quantity expressing the size of a part of a surface. The term Surface area is the summation of the areas of the exposed sides of an object.

Units

Units for measuring surface area include:
square metre = SI derived unit

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Square kilometre (U.S. spelling: square kilometer), symbol km², is a decimal multiple of the SI unit of surface area, the square metre, one of the SI derived units. 1 km² is equal to:
  • 1,000,000 m²
  • 100 ha (hectare)
Conversely:
  • 1 m² = 0.

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square mile is an imperial and US unit of area equal the area of a square of one statute mile. It should not be confused with the archaic miles square, which refers to the number of miles on each side squared.
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population is the collection of people or organisms of a particular species living in a given geographic area or mortality, and migration, though the field encompasses many dimensions of population change including the family (marriage and divorce), public health, work and the
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The Twenty-Second United States Census, known as Census 2000 and conducted by the Census Bureau, determined the resident population of the United States on April 1, 2000, to be 281,421,906, an increase of 13.2% over the 248,709,873 persons enumerated during the 1990 Census.
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Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, humans in particular.

Biological population densities


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county of the United States is a local level of government smaller than a state and not smaller than a city or town, in a U.S. state or territory. The word "county" is used in 48 of the 50 states, while Louisiana uses the term "parish" and Alaska uses the word "borough.
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Earth's oceans
(World Ocean)
  • Arctic Ocean
  • Atlantic Ocean
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  • Southern Ocean


The Pacific Ocean (from the Latin name Mare Pacificum
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Monterey Bay is a bay of the Pacific Ocean, on the coast of California, south of San Francisco. The roughly semicircular bay is ringed by a segment of California State Route 1 which connects Santa Cruz at the north end to Monterey at the south end.
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Santa Cruz County is a county located on the Pacific coast of the U.S. state of California, just south of the San Francisco Bay Area. The county forms the northern coast of the Monterey Bay. (Monterey County forms the southern coast). As of 2006 its population is 249,705.
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A county seat is a term for an administrative center for a county, primarily used in the United States. In the Northeast United States, the statutory term often is shire town, but colloquially county seat is the term in use there.
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City of Salinas, California

Seal
Nickname: America's Salad Bowl
Location of Salinas, California
Coordinates:
Country United States
State
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The Association of Monterey Bay Area Governments, or AMBAG, is a regional governmental organization which consists of representation of a large number of public agencies within Monterey County, Santa Cruz County and San Benito County, California.
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Big Sur is a sparsely populated region of the central California, United States coast where the Santa Lucia Mountains rise abruptly from the Pacific Ocean. The terrain offers stunning views, making Big Sur a popular tourist destination.
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State Route 1

()
Maintained by Caltrans

548.59 mi[1] (0 km)
1934[2]

I-5 near San Juan Capistrano

I-710 in Long Beach
I-110 in Lomita
I-105 in El Segundo
I-10 in Santa Monica
SR 17 in Santa Cruz
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The 17 Mile Drive is a scenic road through Pacific Grove and Pebble Beach, California, United States, much of which hugs the Pacific coastline and passes famous golf courses and mansions. It also serves as the main road through the gated community of Pebble Beach.
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The Monterey Peninsula in central California comprises the cities of Monterey, Carmel, Pacific Grove, some unincorporated area of Monterey County and the private community of Pebble Beach.
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Monterey, California
Old Fisherman's Wharf, Monterey, California nickname = The Cradle of History,
Language Capital of the World,
California's "First" City

Flag
Location of Monterey, California
Coordinates:
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The Salinas River is the largest river of the central coast of California, draining nearly 4,200 square miles. It flows north-northwest and drains the Salinas Valley that slices through the Coast Range south from Monterey Bay.
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18th century - 19th century - 20th century
1820s  1830s  1840s  - 1850s -  1860s  1870s  1880s
1847 1848 1849 - 1850 - 1851 1852 1853

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San Benito County is a county located in the Coast Range Mountains of the U.S. state of California, south of San Jose. As of 2000 the population was 53,234. The county seat is Hollister, which includes approximately three fifths of the county's population.
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18th century - 19th century - 20th century
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1871 1872 1873 - 1874 - 1875 1876 1877

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Monterey Bay is a bay of the Pacific Ocean, on the coast of California, south of San Francisco. The roughly semicircular bay is ringed by a segment of California State Route 1 which connects Santa Cruz at the north end to Monterey at the south end.
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