Washington County, Oregon

Washington County is one of 36 in the  of. Originally named Twality in 1843, the  for the first president of the United States,, in 1849. In, its population was 445,342. The and largest city is.

Government
The county is governed by an elected board of five commissioners. The county is divided into four commissioner districts. One commissioner sits for each district, and the fifth commissioner is "at large" and is the Chair of the board.

Economy
Washington County is centered on a fertile plain that attracted farmers before the first s. In 1997, orchards covered 8,403 acres (34 km²) of the county's lands and 1,163 acres (4.7 km²) were devoted to vineyards. Agriculture is still a major industry in Washington County, as are lumber, manufacturing, and food processing. (The county is home to Roloff Farms, featured in the TV show .)

The development of a large electronics industry during the and  is the dominating factor of the county economy. -based, Oregon's largest private employer, has here its largest concentration of employees.

, the only corporation based in Oregon, has its headquarters in Washington County. Until it was acquired by, was headquartered right next door to Nike. The facility is now host to a number of software groups for IBM, including one of its Technology Centers.

Geography
Located approximately 20 miles to the west of, the county has a total area of 1,881 (726 ). 1,874 km² (724 sq mi) of it is land and 7 km² (3 sq mi) of it (0.36%) is water. The county's highest point is at 3,464 feet (1,056 m) above  in the.

The  (UGB) bisects the county.

Adjacent Counties
Washington County is one of five Oregon counties making up the Greater Portland metropolitan area. The other four are:


 * - (east)
 * - (southeast)
 * - (north)
 * - (south)

Adjacent rural counties:


 * - (west)
 * - (northwest)



Demographics
As of the of 2000, there were 445,342 people, 169,162 households, and 114,015 families residing in the county. The was 238/km² (615/sq mi). There were 178,913 housing units at an average density of 95/km² (247/sq mi). The racial makeup of the county was 82.19%, 1.15% or , 0.65% , 6.68% , 0.30% , 5.86% from , and 3.17% from two or more races. 11.17% of the population were or  of any race. 81.7% spoke, 9.6% and 1.2%  as their first language.

There were 169,162 households out of which 35.60% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 54.50% were living together, 9.00% had a female householder with no husband present, and 32.60% were non-families. 24.70% of all households were made up of individuals and 6.70% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.61 and the average family size was 3.14.

In the county, the population was spread out with 26.90% under the age of 18, 9.30% from 18 to 24, 34.10% from 25 to 44, 20.90% from 45 to 64, and 8.80% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 33 years. For every 100 females there were 99.10 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 97.00 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $52,122, and the median income for a family was $61,499. Males had a median income of $43,304 versus $31,074 for females. The for the county was $24,969. About 4.90% of families and 7.40% of the population were below the, including 8.30% of those under age 18 and 5.30% of those age 65 or over.

History
The created the county as Twality District on. Twality was one of the original four districts of the in  along with, Champooick (later ), and  counties. Columbia, later known as, was selected as the county seat in 1850. Washington County obtained its present boundaries in 1854 with the creation of to the north and  to the east.

The construction of Canyon Road to helped Portland to consolidate its position as the primary port of Oregon, and defeat the rival efforts of settlements as  and.

In November of 2004, the County and the city of agreed to a plan where the city would annex both unincorporated residential neighborhoods as well as high-value areas of land. This would result with, , , being incorporated by 2010, and the communities of , , and  at some point after that.