Citrus County, Florida

Citrus County is a located in the  of. As of 2000, the population was 118,085. The 2006 estimate for the county is 138,143. Its is. More than 90% of the population of Citrus County live outside the two incorporated cities of Inverness and.

History
Citrus County was created in. The Citrus County area was formerly part of a Hernando County. It was named for the county's citrus trees. Citrus production declined dramatically after the "Big Freeze" of 1894-1895. Today, citrus is grown on one large grove, Bellamy Grove. Additionally, some people do have trees on their personal property.

Phosphate mining also played a major part in the history of the County until the end of WWII in which phosphate mining was largely moved overseas. The first newspaper of Citrus County was called the Phosphate Times.

In the 1980s Citrus County began to develop and housing developments such as Beverly Hills started to dominate the county.

Geography
According to the, the county has a total area of 2,002 (773 ). 1,512 km² (584 sq mi) of it is land and 490 km² (189 sq mi) of it (24.49%) is water.

Demographics
As of the of 2000, there were 118,085 people, 62,204 households, and 25,350 families residing in the county. The was 3,051.2 persons per square mile (1,177.3/km²). There were 9,359 housing units at an average density of 1,365.1 houses per square mile (526.8/km²). The racial makeup of the county was 95.0%, 2.4% , 0.4% , 0.8% , 0.0% , 0.4% from , and 0.4% from two or more races. or of any race were 2.7% of the population.

There were 62,204 households out of which 21.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 46.9% were living together, 20.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 48.3% were non-families. 28.9% of all households were made up of individuals and 18.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.20 and the average family size was 2.60.

In the county the population was spread out with 17.2% under the age of 18, 4.6% from 18 to 24, 19.1% from 25 to 44, 26.9% from 45 to 64, and 32.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 52.6 years. For every 100 females there were 91.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 87.2 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $44,508, and the median income for a family was $56,809. Males had a median income of $38,384 versus $32,107 for females. The for the city was $26,515. About 5.4% of families and 7.2% of the population were below the, including 5.8% of those under age 18 and 8.9% of those age 65 or over.

Adjacent Counties

 * - northwest
 * - northeast
 * - east
 * - south

Politics
Citrus County leans slightly Republican in national, state and local races, electing a mix of some local and Republicans, while generally voting Republican in  elections.

Attractions
The largest tourism attraction to Citrus County would be that it is the only place in the United States where one can legally interact and swim with the West Indian Manatee. This threatened species makes Citrus County's spring fed rivers its wintering home. According to the US Fish & Wildlife Services' Aerial Manatee Surveys as many as 400 of these playful creatures can be found in Citrus County at one time.

Government links/Constitutional offices

 * Citrus County Board of County Commissioners
 * Citrus County Supervisor of Elections
 * Citrus County Property Appraiser
 * Citrus County Sheriff's Office
 * Citrus County Tax Collector

Special districts

 * Citrus County School Board
 * Southwest Florida Water Management District

Judicial branch

 * Citrus County Clerk of Courts
 * Public Defender, 5th Judicial Circuit of Florida serving Citrus,, , , and counties
 * Office of the State Attorney, 5th Judicial Circuit of Florida
 * Circuit and County Court for the 5th Judicial Circuit of Florida

Tourism links

 * Citrus County Chamber of Commerce
 * Citrus County Visitors & Convention Bureau