Yolo County, California

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Coordinates: 38.760509°′N -121.961975°′W / <span class="geo-dec geo" title="Maps, aerial photos, and other data for Expression error: Unexpected < operator Expression error: Unexpected < operator">Expression error: Unexpected < operator, Expression error: Unexpected < operator

Yolo County is located in the northern part of the U.S. state of California, bordered by the counties of Sacramento, Solano, Napa, Lake, Colusa, and Sutter. Woodland is the county seat.

As of the 2000 census, Yolo County had a population of 168,660, and notwithstanding the presence of the University of California, Davis in its midst and the state capital in the neighboring county of Sacramento, Yolo County remains a relatively rural agricultural area, home to the multi-billion dollar California tomato industry, which dominates 90% of the tomato market in the United States.

Yolo County is part of the Sacramento–Arden-Arcade–Roseville Metropolitan Statistical Area.

[edit] History

Yolo County was one of the original counties of California, created in 1850 at the time of statehood.

Yolo is a Native American name variously believed to be a corruption of a tribal name Yo-loy meaning "a place abounding in rushes" or of the name of the chief, Yodo, or of the village of Yodoi. To some, Yolo also serves as an acronym for "you only live once".In the original act of 1850 the name was spelled "Yola."

[edit] Government

The county is governed by a board of five district supervisors as well as the governments of its four incorporated cities: Davis, West Sacramento, Winters, and Woodland.

[edit] Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 1,023 square miles (2,649 km²), of which, 1,013 square miles (2,624 km²) of it is land and 10 square miles (25 km²) of it (0.94%) is water.

[edit] Adjacent counties

[edit] Demographics

As of the census^[1] of 2000, there were 168,660 people, 59,375 households, and 37,465 families residing in the county. The population density was 166 people per square mile (64/km²). There were 61,587 housing units at an average density of 61 per square mile (23/km²). The racial makeup of the county was 67.67% White, 2.03% Black or African American, 1.16% Native American, 9.85% Asian, 0.30% Pacific Islander, 13.76% from other races, and 5.23% from two or more races. 25.91% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. 10.0% were of German, 6.6% English and 6.4% Irish ancestry according to Census 2000. 68.5% spoke English, 19.5% Spanish, 2.1% Chinese or Mandarin and 1.8% Russian as their first language.

There were 59,375 households out of which 33.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 47.6% were married couples living together, 11.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 36.9% were non-families. 23.3% of all households were made up of individuals and 7.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.71 and the average family size was 3.25.

In the county the population was spread out with 25.2% under the age of 18, 18.3% from 18 to 24, 28.2% from 25 to 44, 18.9% from 45 to 64, and 9.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 30 years. For every 100 females there were 95.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 92.2 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $40,769, and the median income for a family was $51,623. Males had a median income of $38,022 versus $30,687 for females. The per capita income for the county was $19,365. About 9.5% of families and 18.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 16.0% of those under age 18 and 7.4% of those age 65 or over.

[edit] Transportation infrastructure

[edit] Major highways

[edit] County Roads

Yolo County is made of a system of County Roads. County Roads that begin to be in urban areas are renamed. Some examples include County Road 101 in Woodland being renamed Pioneer Ave. Another example is County Road 102 in Davis being named Pole Line Road.

The numbering system works in the following way:

Each integer road number is one mile apart.

[edit] Public transportation

[edit] Airports

[edit] Cities and towns

[edit] Incorporated cities

[edit] Unincorporated communities

Other unincorporated areas or communities not incorporated into the above cities, include:

[edit] Education

[edit] Colleges and universities

[edit] Public schools

The county's public schools are managed by the Yolo County Office of Education.

[edit] Politics

Yolo is a strongly Democratic county in Presidential and congressional elections. The last Republican to win a majority in the county was Dwight Eisenhower in 1952.

Yolo is part of California's 1st and 2nd congressional districts, which are held by Democrat Mike Thompson and Republican Wally Herger respectively. In the state legislature, Yolo is in the 2nd and 8th Assembly districts, which are held by Republican Doug LaMalfa and Democrat Lois Wolk, respectively, and the 5th Senate district, which is held by Democrat Michael Machado.

In November 2008, Yolo was one of just three counties in California's interior in which voters rejected Proposition 8 to ban gay marriage. Yolo voters rejected Proposition 8 by 58.4 percent to 41.6 percent. The other interior counties in which Proposition 8 failed to receive a majority of votes were Alpine County and Mono County.^[2]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Coordinates: 38°42′N 121°53′W / 38.70, -121.88