Imperial County, California

Imperial County is a located in the, in the far southeast of the  of , bordering both  and. It is part of the 'El Centro, California ' which encompasses all of Imperial County. The population as of 2000 was 142,361. The is the  of. The county is the newest and one of the poorest of all of.

History
Imperial County was formed in from the eastern half of. The county took its name from Imperial Valley, itself named for the, a subsidiary of the , which at the turn of the had reclaimed the southern portion of the Colorado desert for agriculture.

Geography
According to the, the county has a total area of 11,608 (4,482 ). 10,812 km² (4,175 sq mi) of it is land and 795 km² (307 sq mi) of it (6.85%) is water.

The forms the county's eastern boundary. Two notable geographic features are found in the county, the, at 235 feet below sea level, and the , one of the largest dune fields in America.

The are located east of the, and extend in a northwest-southeast direction for approximately 60 miles.

Cities under 10,000 population

 * (Airport: IATA: IPL)

Towns under 1,000 population


See for individual Zip Code data.

Adjacent counties

 * , north
 * , southeast
 * , northeast
 * , west

The county is also bordered to the south by the  of.

Major Highways

 * [[Image:I-8.svg|20px]]
 * [[Image:California 7.svg|20px]]
 * [[Image:California 78.svg|20px]]
 * [[Image:California 86.svg|20px]]
 * [[Image:California 98.svg|20px]]
 * [[Image:California 111.svg|20px]]
 * [[Image:California 115.svg|20px]]

Public Transportation
Imperial County is served by and  buses.

Airports

 * , located just north of El Centro, is primarily a general aviation airport with limited commercial flight service.
 * is a general aviation airport located roughly five miles east of Holtville.

Demographics
As of the of 2000, there were 142,361 people, 39,384 households, and 31,467 families residing in the county. The was 13/km² (34/sq mi). There were 43,891 housing units at an average density of 4/km² (10/sq mi). The racial makeup of the county was 49.37%, 3.95% or , 1.87% , 1.99% , 0.08% , 39.08% from , and 3.65% from two or more races. 72.22% of the population were or  of any race. 65.7% spoke and 32.3%  as their first language.

By 2005 the estimated percentage of non-Hispanic whites in the county was 18%. The percentage of Hispanics had risen to 75.3. The African-American percentage now stood at 4.2%, showing that this population was growing significantly in the county.

There were 39,384 households out of which 46.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 57.7% were living together, 17.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 20.1% were non-families. 17.1% of all households were made up of individuals and 8.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.33 and the average family size was 3.77.

In the county the population was spread out with 31.4% under the age of 18, 9.9% from 18 to 24, 30.4% from 25 to 44, 18.2% from 45 to 64, and 10.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 31 years. For every 100 females there were 109.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 111.4 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $31,870, and the median income for a family was $35,226. Males had a median income of $32,775 versus $23,974 for females. The for the county was $13,239. About 19.4% of families and 22.6% of the population were below the, including 28.7% of those under age 18 and 13.6% of those age 65 or over.

By 2006 the population had risen to 160,201.

Politics
Imperial is a -leaning county in and  elections. The last Republican to win a majority in the county was in.

Imperial is part of, which is held by Democrat. In the, Imperial is part of the 80th Assembly district, which is held by Republican , and the 40th Senate district, which is held by Democrat.

In popular culture

 * is a located in Imperial County that is shown on the  animated series .
 * Scenes for the 2006 film  were filmed in Imperial County, but were not used in the finished film.
 * The majority of Jarhead was filmed in the Imperial Valley.
 * Scenes from Star Wars were filmed in the Imperial Valley sand dunes.
 * Scenes from Top Gun were also filmed in the Imperial Valley.