New Hanover County, North Carolina

New Hanover County is a located in the  of. As of 2000, the population was 160,307. Its is.

History
The county was formed in as New Hanover Precinct of, from. It was named for the, which was then ruling.

In parts of New Hanover Precinct became  and. With the abolition of Bath County in, all of its constituent precincts became counties.

In the northern part of New Hanover County became. In another part of New Hanover County was combined with part of Bladen County to form. Finally, in the separation of northern New Hanover County to form  reduced it to its present dimensions. Some of the closing battles of the happened in the county with the  (the last major coastal stronghold of the Confederacy) and the. The and it's establishment of  closes out the 19th-Century with civil rights conditions which would last until the  through the second half of the 20th century, three generations later.

Law and government
New Hanover is considered a fairly evenly-divided county in political terms, favoring and  in near equal measure. In the, the county supported over  by 56% to 44%. On that same day, it voted by 53% to 45% to re-elect Democratic  against local Republican.

New Hanover County is represented in the by  (D) and in the  by  (D). Of its three members of the, two are Republicans and one is a Democrat.

New Hanover County is a member of the regional.

Geography
According to the, the county has a total area of 849 (328 ). 515 km² (199 sq mi) of it is land and 334 km² (129 sq mi) of it (39.33%) is water.

Townships
The county is divided into five : Cape Fear, Federal Point, Harnett, Masonboro, and Wilmington.

Adjacent Counties

 * - north
 * - west

Demographics
As of the of 2000, there were 160,307 people, 68,183 households, and 41,591 families residing in the county. The was 311/km² (806/sq mi). There were 79,616 housing units at an average density of 155/km² (400/sq mi). The racial makeup of the county was 79.91%, 16.97% or , 0.39% , 0.83% , 0.06% , 0.79% from , and 1.05% from two or more races. 2.04% of the population were or  of any race. 14.3% were of, 13.0% or American, 10.6%  and 10.2%  ancestry according to.

There were 68,183 households out of which 26.10% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 46.50% were living together, 11.50% had a female householder with no husband present, and 39.00% were non-families. 28.90% of all households were made up of individuals and 8.50% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.29 and the average family size was 2.83.

In the county the population was spread out with 21.00% under the age of 18, 12.00% from 18 to 24, 30.50% from 25 to 44, 23.70% from 45 to 64, and 12.80% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females there were 93.30 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 90.70 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $40,172, and the median income for a family was $50,861. Males had a median income of $35,801 versus $25,305 for females. The for the county was $23,123. About 8.30% of families and 13.10% of the population were below the, including 15.70% of those under age 18 and 9.00% of those age 65 or over.