Belmont County, Ohio

Belmont County is a located in the  of. It is part of the. As of 2000, the population was 70,226. Its is. The county takes its from the French for "beautiful mountain".

Government
Main article: 

Almost all of the county's government offices are located in the.

Belmont County's county flag was designed by local state official Michael Massa. Local citizens voted in a nationally-covered election to choose it from a group of three designs by Massa. The seal (minus a phrase) is featured on the county's flag.

Geography
According to the, the county has a total area of 1,402 (541 ). 1,392 km² (537 sq mi) of it is land and 10 km² (4 sq mi) of it (0.75%) is water.

Adjacent counties

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

Demographics
As of the of 2000, there were 70,226 people, 28,309 households, and 19,250 families residing in the county. The was 50/km² (131/sq mi). There were 31,236 housing units at an average density of 22/km² (58/sq mi). The racial makeup of the county was 94.98%, 3.64% or , 0.14% , 0.30% , 0.02% , 0.16% from , and 0.77% from two or more races. 0.39% of the population were or  of any race.

There were 28,309 households out of which 28.30% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 53.10% were living together, 11.20% had a female householder with no husband present, and 32.00% were non-families. 28.70% of all households were made up of individuals and 15.10% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.37 and the average family size was 2.90.

In the county the population was spread out with 21.80% under the age of 18, 7.70% from 18 to 24, 27.40% from 25 to 44, 24.90% from 45 to 64, and 18.20% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 41 years. For every 100 females there were 96.40 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 93.60 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $29,714, and the median income for a family was $37,538. Males had a median income of $31,211 versus $19,890 for females. The for the county was $16,221. About 11.70% of families and 14.60% of the population were below the, including 20.40% of those under age 18 and 9.80% of those age 65 or over.

Education
Belmont County is served by the folowing local school districts

A small part of the county is served by the following schools of the multicounty :
 * in
 * in
 * in