Douglas County, Colorado

Douglas County is the eighth most populous of the of the  of the. The county, sometimes nicknamed, is located midway between Colorado's two largest cities: and. The estimates that the county population was 263,621 in 2006, a 49.98% increase since, making Douglas County one of the fastest growing counties in the United States. Douglas County is part of the and the. The county seat is, named after a small just north of the town. Castle Rock is located in the corridor just east of the  of the.

Douglas County is lightly wooded, mostly with, with broken terrain characterized by mesas and small streams. and Plum Creek rise in Douglas County and flow north toward Denver and into the. Both were subject to flash flooding in the past, Plum Creek being partially responsible for the flood of. Cherry Creek is now dammed.

Residents generally commute to workplaces elsewhere in the metropolitan area outside of the county. is gradually displacing the economy of the county.

History
Douglas County was one of the original 17 counties created in the Colorado Territory by the Colorado Territorial Legislature on. The county was named in honor of  of, who died five months before the county was created. The county seat was originally, but was moved to in , and then to Castle Rock in. Although the county's boundaries originally extended eastward to the state border, in  most of the eastern portion of the county became part of.

Geography
According to the, the county has a total area of 2,183 (843 ). 2,176 km² (840 sq mi) of it is land and 7 km² (3 sq mi) of it (0.31%) is water.

Adjacent Counties
Douglas County has a comprehensive library system with a large local history section, the Douglas County History Research Center, at http://www.douglascountyhistory.org
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 * - northeast
 * - east
 * - southeast
 * - south

Cities and towns

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Census-designated places

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Parks and recreational areas
Three state parks fall within Douglas County,, and. Parts of the county lie within the and were crossed by the historic.

Recreation trails in the county include:

Demographics
As of the of 2000, there were 175,766 people, 60,924 households, and 49,835 families residing in the county. The was 81/km² (209/sq mi). There were 63,333 housing units at an average density of 29/km² (75/sq mi). The racial makeup of the county was 92.77%, 0.95% or , 0.41% , 2.51% , 0.06% , 1.43% from , and 1.88% from two or more races. 5.06% of the population were or  of any race.

There were 60,924 households out of which 47.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 73.8% were living together, 5.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 18.2% were non-families. 13.3% of all households were made up of individuals and 1.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.88 and the average family size was 3.19.

In the county the population was spread out with 31.6% under the age of 18, 4.8% from 18 to 24, 37.9% from 25 to 44, 21.6% from 45 to 64, and 4.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females there were 99.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 97.4 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $82,929, and the median income for a family was $88,482. Males had a median income of $60,729 versus $38,965 for females. The for the county was $34,848. About 1.6% of families and 2.1% of the population were below the, including 1.9% of those under age 18 and 3.7% of those age 65 or over.

Douglas County had the of any county or statistical equivalent in.

Education
Douglas County is served by, the third-largest school district in Colorado. In addition to traditional neighborhood schools, the district includes six charter schools and four option schools.

The University Center at Chaparral in Parker offers courses through Arapahoe Community College, University of Colorado at Denver, University College of the University of Denver, and the Douglas County School District.


 * Douglas County School Information