La Plata County, Colorado

La Plata County is the fifteenth most populous of the of the  of the. The county was named for the and the. "La plata" is the name for "silver". The estimated that the county population was 47,936 in 2006, a 9.09% increase since. The is. The comprises La Plata County.

The county is home to, the for the  of  culture.

Geography
According to the, the county has a total area of 4,403 (1,700 ). 4,383 km² (1,692 sq mi) of it is land and 20 km² (8 sq mi) of it is water. The total area is 0.46% water.

Adjacent Counties

 * - north
 * - northeast
 * - east
 * - south
 * - west
 * - northwest

Demographics
As of the of, there are 43,941 people in the county, organized into 17,342 households and 10,890 families. The is 10/km² (26/sq mi). There are 20,765 housing units at an average density of 5/km² (12/sq mi). The racial makeup of the county is 87.31%, 5.78% , 0.40% , 0.31% or , 0.05% , 3.90% from , and 2.25% from two or more races. 10.40% of the population are or  of any race.

There are 17,342 households out of which 29.60% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 49.90% are living together, 8.70% have a female householder with no husband present, and 37.20% are non-families. 24.80% of all households are made up of individuals and 6.10% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 2.43 and the average family size is 2.92.

In the county the population is spread out with 22.70% under the age of 18, 13.90% from 18 to 24, 29.00% from 25 to 44, 25.10% from 45 to 64, and 9.40% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 36 years. For every 100 females there are 103.60 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 103.10 males.

The median income for a household in the county is $40,159, and the median income for a family is $50,446. Males have a median income of $32,486 versus $24,666 for females. The for the county is $21,534. 11.70% of the population and 6.70% of families are below the. Out of the total population, 9.30% of those under the age of 18 and 7.70% of those 65 and older are living below the poverty line.