Merced County, California

Merced County (pronounced "Mer-SED"), is a located in the  of the  of, north of  and southeast of. As of 2000 the population was 210,554. The county seat is. The county is named after the.

History
Merced County was formed in from parts of. Parts of its territory were given to in.

The county derives its name from the, or El Río de Nuestra Señora de la Merced (River of Our Lady of Mercy); named in by an expedition, headed by , which came upon it at the end of a hot dusty ride.

Geography
According to the, the county has a total area of 5,107 (1,972 ). 4,995 km² (1,929 sq mi) of it is land and 112 km² (43 sq mi) of it (2.19%) is water.

Adjacent counties

 * - southwest
 * - west
 * - north
 * - east
 * - southeast
 * - south

Major highways

 * [[Image:I-5.svg|20px]]
 * [[Image:California 33.svg|20px]]
 * [[Image:California 59.svg|20px]]
 * [[Image:California 99.svg|20px]]
 * [[Image:California 140.svg|20px]]
 * [[Image:California 152.svg|20px]]
 * [[Image:California 165.svg|20px]]

Public transportation

 * , or "The Bus" provides local service in Merced as well as connecting service between most cities in Merced County.
 * The operates its own transit system, Cat Tracks. This system connects with Merced County Transit.
 * , or YARTS connects Merced with.
 * buses and trains provide long distance intercity service.

Airports
, located just southwest of downtown Merced, has a few commercial passenger flights. General aviation airports in the county include, , and.

Demographics
As of the of 2000, there were 210,554 people, 63,815 households, and 49,775 families residing in the county. The was 42/km² (109/sq mi). There were 68,373 housing units at an average density of 14/km² (36/sq mi). The racial makeup of the county was 56.21%, 3.83% or , 1.19% , 6.80% , 0.19% , 26.13% from , and 5.65% from two or more races. 45.34% of the population were or  of any race. 55.1% spoke, 35.3% , 3.2% , 2.9% and 1.0%  as their first language.

There were 63,815 households out of which 45.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 57.8% were living together, 14.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 22.0% were non-families. 17.7% of all households were made up of individuals and 7.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.25 and the average family size was 3.69.

In the county the population was spread out with 34.5% under the age of 18, 10.3% from 18 to 24, 27.9% from 25 to 44, 17.8% from 45 to 64, and 9.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 29 years. For every 100 females there were 99.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 96.6 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $35,532, and the median income for a family was $38,009. Males had a median income of $31,721 versus $23,911 for females. The for the county was $14,257. About 16.9% of families and 21.7% of the population were below the, including 28.4% of those under age 18 and 10.7% of those age 65 or over.

Politics
Merced is a -leaning county in and  elections. The last Democrat to win a majority in the county was in.

Merced is part of, which is held by Democrat. In the Merced is in the 17th Assembly district, which is held by Democrat, and the 12th Senate district, which is held by Republican.