Tulare County, California

Tulare County is a located in the  of the  of, south of. is located in the county. As of 2000 the population was 368,021; as of 2007 the population estimate was 429,006. Its is. The county is named for, once the largest freshwater lake west of the and now drained.

History
Tulare County was formed from parts of in. Parts of the county's territory were given to in, to  in , to  in  and  in.

Comandante, while hunting for deserters in , discovered a great surrounded by es and filled with es which he named Los Tules (the tules). It is from this lake that the county derives its name. The root of the name Tulare is found in the word tullin, designating  or similar reeds.

The infectious disease caused by the bacterium Francisella tularensis is named after Tulare County.

Economy
Tulare County bears the unfortunate distinction of being the one of the most impoverished counties in California, despite its proximity to and s.

Milk brings in the most revenue for the county, typically more than US$1 billion a year annually. Oranges, grapes, and other cattle-related commodities also bring in hundreds of millions of dollars annually.

In 2001, Tulare became the most productive county in the U.S. in terms of agricultural revenues at US$3.5 billion annually, surpassing 's US$3.2 billion, which held the spot for over two decades.

Due to the importance of agriculture in the county as well as its location in the state, the city of (in Tulare County) has been the home of the annual , the world's largest agricultural exposition, since 1968.

Geography
According to the, the county has a total area of 12,533 (4,839 ). 12,494 km² (4,824 sq mi) of it is land and 39 km² (15 sq mi) of it (0.31%) is water.

Cities and towns






Adjacent Counties

 * - south
 * - west
 * - north
 * - east

Major Highways

 * [[Image:California 43.svg|20px]]
 * [[Image:California 63.svg|20px]]
 * [[Image:California 65.svg|20px]]
 * [[Image:California 99.svg|20px]]
 * [[Image:California 198.svg|20px]]

Public Transportation
provides a countywide bus service linking the population centers. A connection to Delano in Kern County is also operated.

The cities of Tulare, Porterville and Visalia have their own local bus services.

and provide long-distance, intercity bus service.

Airports
has limited passenger service. , just north of Visalia, is a County-owned general aviation airport.

Demographics
As of the of 2000, there were 368,021 people, 110,385 households, and 87,093 families residing in the county. The was 29/km² (76/sq mi). There were 119,639 housing units at an average density of 10/km² (25/sq mi). The racial makeup of the county was 58.08%, 1.59% or , 1.56% , 3.27% , 0.11% , 30.79% from , and 4.60% from two or more races. 50.77% of the population were or  of any race. 56.3% spoke, 38.9% and 1.1%  as their first language.

There were 110,385 households out of which 44.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 58.1% were living together, 14.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 21.1% were non-families. 17.1% of all households were made up of individuals and 7.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.28 and the average family size was 3.67.

In the county the population was spread out with 33.8% under the age of 18, 10.6% from 18 to 24, 27.6% from 25 to 44, 18.2% from 45 to 64, and 9.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 29 years. For every 100 females there were 100.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 97.7 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $33,983, and the median income for a family was $36,297. Males had a median income of $30,892 versus $24,589 for females. The for the county was $14,006. About 18.8% of families and 23.9% of the population were below the, including 32.6% of those under age 18 and 10.5% of those age 65 or over.

Politics
Tulare is a strongly Republican county in and  elections. The last Democrat to win a majority in the county was in.

Tulare is part of, which is held by Republican. In the, Tulare is in the 29th, 30th, 31st, and 34th districts. The 30th and 31st are held by Democrats and, respectively while the 29th and 34th are held by Republicans  and , respectively. In the, Tulare is part of the 16th and 18th districts, which are held by Democrat and Republican  respectively.