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Placer County, California
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Placer County (from Spanish: placer - "pleasure") is a county located in the Sierra Nevada of the U.S. state of California, in what is known as the Gold Country. It stretches from the suburbs of Sacramento to Lake Tahoe and the Nevada border. Because of the expansion of the Sacramento metropolitan area, Placer County is one of the fastest growing counties in the state. As of 2000, the population was 248,399. In 2004, the population had grown to 307,004. The county seat is Auburn.
History
Placer County was created from parts of Sutter and Yuba Counties in 1851.
"Placer" is probably a contraction of the Spanish words plaza de oro (the place of gold).citation needed The county derived its name from the numerous places where the placer mining method of extracting gold was practiced.
Geography
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 1503 square miles (3892 km²), of which, 1404 square miles (3637 km²) of it is land and 98 square miles (255 km²) of it (6.55%) is water. Watercourses in Placer County include the American River and Bunch Creek.
Incorporated cities
Incorporated towns
Unincorporated places
Adjacent counties
Transportation infrastructure
Major highways
Public transportation
Airports
There are three general aviation airports in Placer County:
Demographics
As of the census[1] of 2000, there were 248,399 people, 93,382 households, and 67,701 families residing in the county. The population density was 177 people per square mile (68/km²). There were 107,302 housing units at an average density of 76 per square mile (30/km²). The racial makeup of the county was 88.59% White, 0.82% Black or African American, 0.89% Native American, 2.95% Asian, 0.16% Pacific Islander, 3.39% from other races, and 3.21% from two or more races. 9.67% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. 15.5% were of German, 12.3% English, 10.6% Irish, 7.1% Italian and 7.0% American ancestry according to Census 2000. 89.7% spoke English and 6.0% Spanish as their first language.
There were 93,382 households out of which 35.30% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 59.40% were married couples living together, 9.20% had a female householder with no husband present, and 27.50% were non-families. 21.30% of all households were made up of individuals and 8.10% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.63 and the average family size was 3.06.
In the county the population was spread out with 26.50% under the age of 18, 6.90% from 18 to 24, 29.00% from 25 to 44, 24.50% from 45 to 64, and 13.10% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females there were 96.40 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 93.90 males.
The median income for a household in the county was $57,535, and the median income for a family was $65,858. Males had a median income of $50,410 versus $33,763 for females. The per capita income for the county was $27,963. About 3.90% of families and 5.80% of the population were below the poverty line, including 6.30% of those under age 18 and 3.80% of those age 65 or over.
Politics
Presidential Election Results
| Year |
GOP |
DEM |
Others |
| 2004 |
62.6% 95,969 |
36.3% 55,573 |
1.1% 1,736 |
| 2000 |
59.3% 69,835 |
36.0% 42,449 |
4.7% 5,515 |
| 1996 |
52.8% 49,808 |
37.1% 34,981 |
10.2% 9,638 |
| 1992 |
41.9% 38,298 |
33.7% 30,783 |
24.4% 22,285 |
| 1988 |
59.6% 42,096 |
39.0% 27,516 |
1.5% 1,030 |
| 1984 |
62.9% 38,035 |
35.2% 21,294 |
1.8% 1,098 |
| 1980 |
54.8% 28,179 |
33.7% 17,311 |
11.6% 5,950 |
| 1976 |
45.0% 18,154 |
52.2% 21,026 |
2.8% 1,131 |
| 1972 |
50.3% 18,597 |
45.8% 16,911 |
3.9% 1,437 |
| 1968 |
42.6% 12,427 |
48.2% 14,050 |
9.2% 2,667 |
| 1964 |
33.9% 9,389 |
66.0% 18,256 |
0.1% 31 |
| 1960 |
43.8% 10,439 |
55.8% 13,304 |
0.5% 120 |
Placer is a strongly Republican county in Presidential and congressional elections. The last Democrat to win a presidential majority in the county was Jimmy Carter in 1976.
Placer is part of California's 4th congressional district, which is held by Republican John Doolittle. In the State Assembly, Placer is part of the 3rd, 4th, and 5th districts, which are held by Republicans Rick Keene, Ted Gaines, and Roger Niello respectively. In the State Senate, Placer is mostly in the 1st district with parts in the 4th district. Both districts are held by Republicans, Dave Cox and Sam Aanestad respectively.
Controversies
In 2004, current and former Placer County social workers reported that the county had an "unwritten policy" of homeless dumping, encouraging employees to send homeless individuals to neighboring jurisdictions--namely facilities in Sacramento County. The story was initially reported in the Sacramento News & Review and corroborated in an independent story in the Sacramento Bee.[2][3]
Based on this and other instances of homeless dumping in Sacramento, California State Assembly Member Dave Jones introduced Assembly Bill 2745, prohibiting hospitals from sending a homeless person to a facility in another county without that facility's consent.[4] The bill became law in 2006 when it was signed by Governor Schwarzenegger and included in Section 1262.4 of the California Health and Safety Code.[5][6]
References
- ^ "American FactFinder". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved on 2008-01-31.
- ^ Duman, Jill (2004-02-14). "Exporting indigence: Social worker calls recent homeless-dumping the 'tip of the iceberg'", Sacramento News & Review, Chico Community Publishing, Inc.. Retrieved on 2008-07-14.
- ^ Wiener, Jocelyn (2004-02-22). "Is Placer dumping homeless? With no emergency shelter of its own, county sends its clients to Sacramento, social workers say", Sacramento Bee, The McClatchy Company. Retrieved on 2008-07-14.
- ^ "Castoff practice banned by bills: Shipping homeless across county lines draws legislators' ire" (fee required), Sacramento Bee, The McClatchy Company (May 05, 2006), p. B1. Article 1. Retrieved on 2008-07-14.
- ^ "AB 2745 Assembly Bill - Chaptered". Legislative Counsel, State of California. Retrieved on 2008-07-14.
- ^ "California Health and Safety Code Division 2, Chapter 2, Article 1.". Legislative Counsel, State of California. Retrieved on 2008-07-14.
See also
External links
Coordinates: 39°04′N 120°44′W / 39.06, -120.73
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