San Benito County, California

San Benito County is a located in the  Mountains of the  of, south of. As of 2000 the population was 53,234. The is, which includes approximately three fifths of the county's population. passes through the county and includes one in.

As housing costs have gone up in the, commuters have begun moving to San Benito County.

History
San Benito County was formed from parts of in.

The county is named after the San Benito Valley. Father, in his expedition in , named a small river in honor of San Benedicto , the patron saint of the married, and it is from the contraction of this name that the county took its name.

Geography
According to the, the county has a total area of 3,602 (1,391 ). 3,598 km² (1,389 sq mi) of it is land and 4 km² (2 sq mi) of it (0.12%) is water.

Sharing a border with, San Benito County lies adjacent to the but is often considered not a part of that region (see ). Instead, the county is associated with the through governmental organizations such as the  as well as the, which flows from northern San Benito County into the. However, the includes the county in the   and the , which the Census uses as a statistical definition of the San Francisco Bay Area.

The county is also the location of the.

Cities and towns

 * (abandoned)
 * (abandoned)
 * (abandoned)
 * (abandoned)
 * (abandoned)
 * (abandoned)
 * (abandoned)

Adjacent counties

 * — north/northwest
 * — northeast
 * — east/southeast
 * — southwest/west
 * — northwest

Major highways

 * [[Image:US 101 (CA).svg|23px]]
 * [[Image:California 25.svg|20px]]
 * [[Image:California 156.svg|20px]]

Public Transportation
provides fixed route service in the city of Hollister, and intercity service in the northern portion of the county. Service operates as far north as, in.

Airports
is a general aviation airport located just north of Hollister.

Demographics
As of the of 2000, there were 53,234 people, 15,885 households, and 12,898 families residing in the county. The was 15/km² (38/sq mi). There were 16,499 housing units at an average density of 5/km² (12/sq mi). The racial makeup of the county was 65.17%, 1.08% or , 1.16% , 2.40% , 0.19% , 24.87% from , and 5.14% from two or more races. 47.93% of the population were or  of any race. 62.8% spoke and 35.3%  as their first language.

There were 15,885 households out of which 46.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 65.7% were living together, 10.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 18.8% were non-families. 14.1% of all households were made up of individuals and 5.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.32 and the average family size was 3.64.

In the county the population was spread out with 32.2% under the age of 18, 8.8% from 18 to 24, 31.5% from 25 to 44, 19.3% from 45 to 64, and 8.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 31 years. For every 100 females there were 102.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 99.6 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $57,469, and the median income for a family was $60,665. Males had a median income of $44,158 versus $29,524 for females. The for the county was $20,932. About 6.7% of families and 10.0% of the population were below the, including 11.4% of those under age 18 and 8.5% of those age 65 or over.

Politics
San Benito is a -leaning county in and  elections. The last Republican to win a majority in the county was in. It is often considered the bellwether of California, as most of its election returns mirrored the state as a whole. San Benito is part of, which is held by Democrat. In the San Benito is in the 28th Assembly district, which is held by Democrat, and the 12th Senate district, which is held by Republican.

Environmental features
, the of the State of California, was discovered in San Benito County. The county is also home to
 * the (), a rare plant discovered in this county ; and
 * , a discovered in the county in 1926 (and unseen again until 2005) and having more legs than any other millipede.