Merrick County, Nebraska

Merrick County is a located in the  of. As of, the population is 8,204. Its is.

In the Nebraska system, Merrick County is represented by the prefix 46 (it had the forty-sixth-largest number of vehicles registered in the county when the license plate system was established in ).

Geography
According to the, the county has a total area of 1,281 (495 ). 1,256 km² (485 sq mi) of it is land and 26 km² (10 sq mi) of it (1.99%) is water. It is also the most oddly shapped county in the United States.

Adjacent Counties

 * - (Northeast)
 * - (East)
 * - (South)
 * - (Southwest)
 * - (West)
 * - (North)

Demographics
As of the of 2000, there were 8,204 people, 3,209 households, and 2,307 families residing in the county. The was 7/km² (17/sq mi). There were 3,649 housing units at an average density of 3/km² (8/sq mi). The racial makeup of the county was 98.32%, 0.22% or , 0.10% , 0.21% , 0.01% , 0.67% from , and 0.48% from two or more races. 2.05% of the population were or  of any race.

There were 3,209 households out of which 33.30% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 61.10% were living together, 6.50% had a female householder with no husband present, and 28.10% were non-families. 25.00% of all households were made up of individuals and 13.10% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.51 and the average family size was 2.99.

In the county the population was spread out with 27.50% under the age of 18, 6.40% from 18 to 24, 24.70% from 25 to 44, 23.80% from 45 to 64, and 17.50% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females there were 95.90 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 94.90 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $34,961, and the median income for a family was $39,729. Males had a median income of $26,998 versus $19,828 for females. The for the county was $15,958. About 7.00% of families and 8.90% of the population were below the, including 9.70% of those under age 18 and 9.20% of those age 65 or over.