Santa Cruz County, California

Santa Cruz County is a located on the  coast of the  of, just south of the. The county forms the northern coast of the. ( forms the southern coast). As of 2006 its population is 249,705. The is. Santa Cruz County is a member of the regional governmental agency,.

History
Santa Cruz County was one of the original counties of California, created in at the time of statehood.

In the original act, the county was given the name of "" after the  founded there in ; a major watercourse in the county,, bears this name. Less than two months later, the name was changed to "Santa Cruz" ("Holy Cross"). , established in and completed in, was destroyed by an  in , but a smaller-scale replica was erected in.

Geography
According to the, the county has a total area of 1,573 (607 ). 1,153 km² (445 sq mi) of it is land and 419 km² (162 sq mi) of it (26.67%) is water. Of California's counties, only is physically smaller.

The county is a strip about ten miles wide between the coast and the crest of the at the northern end of the. It can be divided roughly into four regions: the rugged "north coast"; the urban, , , and ; mountainous ,. ; and fertile "south county", including. Agriculture is concentrated in the coastal lowlands of the county's northern and southern ends. Most of the coastline is flanked by cliffs.

Cities and towns




Adjacent counties

 * — northwest
 * — northeast
 * — southeast
 * — southeast/south

Major Highways

 * [[Image:California 1.svg|20px]]
 * [[Image:California 9.svg|20px]]
 * [[Image:California 17.svg|20px]]
 * [[Image:California 129.svg|20px]]
 * [[Image:California 152.svg|20px]]

Public Transportation
Santa Cruz County is served by the bus system. A "Highway 17 Express" bus between Santa Cruz and San Jose is jointly operated by the SCMTD and the. bus service also serves Santa Cruz County.

Airports

 * is a public general aviation airport. There are also two private airports: and . The nearest airports for commercial travel include, , , and.

Demographics
As of the of 2000, there were 255,602 people, 91,139 households, and 57,144 families residing in the county. The was 222/km² (574/sq mi). There were 98,873 housing units at an average density of 86/km² (222/sq mi). The racial makeup of the county was 75.09%, 0.97% or , 0.96% , 3.44% , 0.15% , 15.02% from , and 4.37% from two or more races. 26.79% of the population were or  of any race. 72.5% spoke and 22.3% as their first language. 2.3% (approximately 6,000) register as Jewish, placing Santa Cruz County as the 91st highest percentage of Jews in the United States (see ).

There were 91,139 households out of which 31.90% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 48.00% were living together, 10.20% had a female householder with no husband present, and 37.30% were non-families. 25.10% of all households were made up of individuals and 8.20% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.71 and the average family size was 3.25.

In the county the population was spread out with 23.80% under the age of 18, 11.90% from 18 to 24, 30.80% from 25 to 44, 23.50% from 45 to 64, and 10.00% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35 years. For every 100 females there were 99.70 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 97.80 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $53,998, and the median income for a family was $61,941. Males had a median income of $46,291 versus $33,514 for females. The for the county was $26,396. About 6.70% of families and 11.90% of the population were below the, including 12.50% of those under age 18 and 6.30% of those age 65 or over.

Environmental features
Santa Cruz County is home to the following :



Colleges and Universities
Four-year universities:
 * (public) in
 * (private) in

Two-year colleges:
 * (public) in

Politics
Santa Cruz is a strongly Democratic county in and  elections. The last Republican to win a majority in the county was in.

Santa Cruz is part of California's and  congressional districts, which are held by Democrats  and, respectively. In the Santa Cruz is in the 27th and 28th Assembly districts, which are held by Democrats  and, respectively. In the, Santa Cruz is part of the 11th and 15th districts, which are held by Democrat and Republican , respectively.

Santa Cruz County winemaking and wineries
-- both the growing of the grapes and their vinting -- is an important part of the economic and cultural life of Santa Cruz County. The wines of the and  were selected for tasting in the.