Deaf Smith County, Texas

Deaf Smith County is a located in the  of. As of the, the population was 18,561. Its is.

History
In 1876 the state legislature identified and named the county, but it was not organized until 1890, with the town of LaPlata as the original county seat. The county was named for (-), a  scout and soldier who served in the. He was the first to reach the after its fall.

This county was also selected as an alternate site for a possible disposal repository but was later dropped as an official alternate site after funding was shifted to.

Geography
According to the, the county has a total area of 3880 sqkm. 3878 sqkm of it is land and 2 sqkm of it (0.06%) is water.

Major Highways

 * [[Image:US 60.svg|20px]]
 * [[Image:US 385.svg|23px]]

Adjacent counties

 * (north)
 * (east)
 * (southeast)
 * (south)
 * (southwest)
 * (west)

Demographics
As of the of 2000, there were 18,561 people, 6,180 households, and 4,832 families residing in the county. The was 5/km² (12/sq mi). There were 6,914 housing units at an average density of 2/km² (5/sq mi). The racial makeup of the county was 72.28%, 1.51% or , 0.80% , 0.25% , 0.13% , 22.92% from , and 2.11% from two or more races. 57.40% of the population were or  of any race.

There were 6,180 households out of which 41.00% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 61.00% were living together, 12.60% had a female householder with no husband present, and 21.80% were non-families. 19.70% of all households were made up of individuals and 10.00% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.96 and the average family size was 3.41.

In the county, the population was spread out with 33.30% under the age of 18, 9.60% from 18 to 24, 25.50% from 25 to 44, 19.40% from 45 to 64, and 12.10% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 31 years. For every 100 females there were 95.50 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.90 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $29,601, and the median income for a family was $32,391. Males had a median income of $26,090 versus $19,113 for females. The for the county was $13,119. About 19.30% of families and 20.60% of the population were below the, including 26.30% of those under age 18 and 15.70% of those age 65 or over.