Otero County, Colorado

Otero County is one of the of the  of the. The county was named for, one of the founders of the town of and a member of a prominent  family. The county population was 20,311 at. The is.

Geography
According to the, the county has a total area of 3,289 (1,270 ). 3,271 km² (1,263 sq mi) of it is land and 18 km² (7 sq mi) of it (0.54%) is water.

Adjacent Counties

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

Demographics
As of the of 2000, there were 20,311 people, 7,920 households, and 5,472 families residing in the county. The was 6/km² (16/sq mi). There were 8,813 housing units at an average density of 3/km² (7/sq mi). The racial makeup of the county was 79.02%, 0.76% or , 1.43% , 0.70% , 0.08% , 15.06% from , and 2.96% from two or more races. 37.62% of the population were or  of any race.

There were 7,920 households out of which 32.20% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 52.70% were living together, 12.00% had a female householder with no husband present, and 30.90% were non-families. 27.80% of all households were made up of individuals and 12.90% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.49 and the average family size was 3.04.

In the county the population was spread out with 26.90% under the age of 18, 8.90% from 18 to 24, 24.40% from 25 to 44, 23.40% from 45 to 64, and 16.50% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females there were 95.60 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.50 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $29,738, and the median income for a family was $35,906. Males had a median income of $26,996 versus $21,001 for females. The for the county was $15,113. About 14.20% of families and 18.80% of the population were below the, including 25.90% of those under age 18 and 11.80% of those age 65 or over.