Sampson County, North Carolina

Sampson County is a located in the  of. As of 2000, the population was 60,161. Its is.

History
The county was formed in from. It was named after John Sampson, who was the first register of deeds of Duplin County and the first mayor of.

Sampson County is the birthplace of, who after spending time in local government continued on to become the 13th US vice-president.

Law and government
Sampson County is a member of the regional.

Geography
According to the, the county has a total area of 2,454 (947 ). 2,449 km² (945 sq mi) of it is land and 5 km² (2 sq mi) of it (0.21%) is water.

Sampson County is the second largest county, in land area, in North Carolina.

The county is drained by the and  Rivers, as well as.

Townships
The county is divided into nineteen : Belvoir, Dismal, Franklin, Halls, Herring, Honeycutt, Lisbon, Little Coharie, McDaniels, Mingo, Newton Grove, North Clinton, Piney Grove, Plain View, South Clinton, South River, Taylors Bridge, Turkey, and Westbrook.

Adjacent Counties

 * - north
 * - northeast
 * - east
 * - southeast
 * - southwest
 * - west
 * - northwest

Demographics
As of the of 2000, there were 60,161 people, 22,273 households, and 16,214 families residing in the county. The was 25/km² (64/sq mi). There were 25,142 housing units at an average density of 10/km² (27/sq mi). The racial makeup of the county was 59.76%, 29.95% or , 1.81% , 0.31% , 0.09% , 6.95% from , and 1.13% from two or more races. 10.77% of the population were or  of any race.

There were 22,273 households out of which 33.40% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 53.60% were living together, 14.30% had a female householder with no husband present, and 27.20% were non-families. 23.70% of all households were made up of individuals and 10.20% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.64 and the average family size was 3.09.

In the county the population was spread out with 25.80% under the age of 18, 9.40% from 18 to 24, 29.70% from 25 to 44, 22.30% from 45 to 64, and 12.80% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35 years. For every 100 females there were 98.20 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 95.90 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $31,793, and the median income for a family was $38,072. Males had a median income of $26,806 versus $20,657 for females. The for the county was $14,976. About 13.50% of families and 17.60% of the population were below the, including 21.50% of those under age 18 and 21.50% of those age 65 or over.

Sampson County is also one of the largest producers of hogs in the nation, and second in the state, with a population of over 2 million hogs.