Monterey County, California



Monterey County is a located on the  coast of the  of, its northwestern section forming the southern half of. The northern half of the bay is in. As of 2000, the population was 401,762. The is. Monterey County is a member of the regional governmental agency,.

The beautiful coastline, including, , and the on the  has made the county world famous. The city of was the capital of California under Spanish and Mexican rule. The economy is primarily based upon tourism in the coastal regions, and agriculture in the. Most of the county's people live near the northern coast and Salinas valley, while the southern coast and inland mountain regions are almost devoid of human habitation.

History
Monterey County was one of the original counties of California, created in at the time of statehood. Parts of the county were given to in.

The county derived its name from. The word itself is composed of the words monte and rey, which literally means "Hill" and "King". The bay was named by in, in honor of Gaspar de Zuniga y Acevedo, Conde de Monterrey, the  of.

Geography
According to the, the county has a total area of 9,767 (3,771 ). 8,604 km² (3,322 sq mi) of it is land and 1,163 km² (449 sq mi) of it (11.91%) is water. The county has roughly the same land area as the state of.

Census-designated places

 * , includes the well-known community of
 * , includes the well-known community of
 * , includes the well-known community of
 * , includes the well-known community of
 * , includes the well-known community of
 * , includes the well-known community of
 * , includes the well-known community of

Other locales

 * includes the areas of  and
 * decommissioned in the 1990s, some of it was converted to California State University, Monterey Bay
 * , home to the and one of three  in California
 * , including the highest point on the
 * , home to the and one of three  in California
 * , including the highest point on the

Adjacent counties

 * - south
 * - southeast
 * - southeast
 * - east
 * - north''

Major highways

 * [[Image:US 101 (CA).svg|23px]]
 * [[Image:California 1.svg|20px]]
 * [[Image:California 68.svg|20px]]
 * [[Image:California 146.svg|20px]]
 * [[Image:California 156.svg|20px]]
 * [[Image:California 183.svg|20px]]
 * [[Image:California 198.svg|20px]]

Public transportation
Monterey County is served by trains and  buses. provides transit service throughout most of Monterey County, with buses to Big Sur and King City as well as in Monterey, Salinas and Carmel. MST also runs service to San Jose.

Airports

 * is located just east of the City of Monterey. Commercial flights are available.

Demographics
As of the of 2000, there were 401,762 people, 121,236 households, and 87,896 families residing in the county. The was 47/km² (121/sq mi). There were 131,708 housing units at an average density of 15/km² (40/sq mi). The racial makeup of the county was 55.92%, 3.75% or , 1.05% , 6.03% , 0.45% , 27.82% from , and 4.98% from two or more races. 46.79% of the population were or  of any race. 52.9% spoke, 39.6% and 1.6%  as their first language.

There were 121,236 households out of which 39.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 56.0% were living together, 11.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 27.5% were non-families. 21.2% of all households were made up of individuals and 8.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.14 and the average family size was 3.65.

In the county the population was spread out with 28.4% under the age of 18, 10.9% from 18 to 24, 31.4% from 25 to 44, 19.3% from 45 to 64, and 10.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 32 years. For every 100 female residents there were 107.3 male residents. For every 100 female residents age 18 and over, there were 107.7 male residents.

The median income for a household in the county was $48,305, and the median income for a family was $51,169. Men had a median income of $38,444 versus $30,036 for women. The for the county was $20,165. About 9.7% of families and 13.5% of the population were below the, including 17.4% of those under age 18 and 6.8% of those age 65 or over.

Politics
Monterey County is considered to be a -leaning county in and  elections. The county voted for in  and  in. The last to win a majority in the county was  in.

Monterey is part of, which is represented by Democrat. In the, Monterey is part of the 27th and 28th districts, which are held by Democrats and , respectively. Laird was first elected to the Assembly in November 2002; Caballero in November 2006. In the, a small part of Monterey is in the 12th district; most of the county is in the 15th. The 12th district is held by Republican and the 15th by Republican, who is considered to be moderate. Denham was first elected to the Senate in November 2002; Maldonado in November 2004.

Environmental features
Monterey County has habitat to support the following :



Home prices
As of, Monterey County ranked among America's ten most expensive counties with topping the list with a median home price of $753,790. In Monterey County, the median home price was $699,900. In the northern, more densely populated part in the county, the was even higher, at $712,500, making it the fourth most expensive housing market in California. The disparity between the of roughly $48,305 and the median home price of $700k has been cause for recent concern over excluding potential home buyers from the market.