Albany County, New York

Albany County is a located in the  of, generally located in the vicinity of , the  of New York State. Albany is also the of Albany County. It is part of the Albany-Schenectady-Troy. The name is from the title of the Duke of York and Albany, who became. As of the, the population was 294,565. As originally established, Albany County had an indefinite amount of land, but has only 530 square miles (1,372.69 km²) as of,. Albany County is governed by a County Executive and a 39-member County Legislature. The current County Executive is (D) and the Chair of the Legislature is Charles Houghtailing (D). Other county elected officials include County Sheriff James Campbell, County District Attorney, and County Comptroller Michael Conners.

History
Albany County was one of the original twelve counties created by the on,. At that time it included all of the present, , all of New York state north of the counties of and , and theoretically stretched west to the.

On, , Albany County was adjusted to gain an indefinite amount of land from Dutchess County and other non-county lands.

On, , , as part of his , created the new province of in , implicitly setting the northern limit of New York at the parallel of 45 degrees north latitude from the Atlantic-St. Lawrence watershed westward to the, implicitly setting the northern limit of Albany County, but it was never mapped.

On, , King George III established the boundary between and New York along the west bank of the , north of  and south of the parallel of 45 degrees north latitude. Albany County implicitly gained present-day. Although disputes occasionally broke out later, this line became the boundary between New Hampshire and Vermont, and has remained unchanged to the present. When New York refused to recognize land titles through the (towns created earlier by New Hampshire in present Vermont), dissatisfied colonists organized in opposition, which led to the creation of independent Vermont in 1777.

On, , was partitioned from Albany County to cover all territory to the northern and eastern limits of the colony, including , most of , and parts of  and  counties in present-day.

On, , Albany County regained all of Cumberland County.

On, , Albany County was re-partitioned, and Cumberland County restored.

On, , Albany County was again partitioned. was created to include all of, and  counties, most of , and parts of , ,  and  counties in present-day Vermont.

On, , Albany County was partitioned again, this time into the counties of Albany, (now ), and  (now ). This established a definite area for Albany County of 5,470 sq mi (14,167.23 km²).

On, , Albany County was partitioned again, with an additional 50 sq mi (129.5 km²) handed over to Cumberland County.

On, , Albany County was partitioned again, this time passing 1,090 sq mi (2,823.09 km²) to.

On, , Albany was again partitioned, this time giving up 60 sq mi (155.4 km²) to Charlotte County, who then exchanged this land with a like parcel in Cumberland County.

On, , Albany County was again partitioned, this time on account of the independence of from New York, reducing Albany County by an additional 300 sq mi (777 km²).

On, , Bennington County, Vermont attempted to annex a portion of Albany County that today includes portions of and  counties to form what they called "The West Union". The fledgling United States - under the - arbitrated this annexation, and condemned it, resulting in Vermont ceasing the annexation on.

On, , was created from 650 square miles (1,685 km²) of Albany County land.

On, , New York, refusing to recognize the independence of , and the attendant elimination of Cumberland County, attempted to adjust the line that separated Cumberland from Albany County in present-day Vermont, but to no effect.

On, , Albany County was partitioned again, this time to form and  counties. Rensselaer received 660 square miles (1,700 km²), while Saratoga received 850 square miles (2,200 km²). Also the town of was transferred to. A total of 1,680 sq mi (4,351.18 km²) changed hands.

On, , Albany County was once again partitioned, this time losing 460 sq mi (1,191.39 km² ) to.

On, , another partition took place, with 90 sq mi (233.1 km²) passing to.

On, , once again Albany County was partitioned, with 360 sq mi (932.4 km² being used to create.

On, , all New York counties were redefined, with Albany County gaining 10 sq mi (25.9 km² ).

On, , was created from 230 sq mi (595.7 km²) of Albany County land.

On, , Albany County turned over to , with no resultant loss in land.

The result was the production of Albany County as it exists today.

Geography
Albany County is in the east central part of New York State, extending southward and westward from the point where the joins the. Its eastern boundary is the Hudson River; a portion of its northern boundary is the Mohawk River.

According to the, the county has a total area of 1,381 (533 ). 1,356 km² (523 sq mi) of it is land and 25 km² (10 sq mi) of it (1.83%) is water.

The terrain of the county ranges from flat near the Hudson and Mohawks to high and hilly to the southwest, where the begin. The highest point is one of several summits near Henry Hill at approximately 2,160 feet (658 m) above sea level; the lowest point is slightly above sea level along the Hudson.

Adjacent counties

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

Demographics
As of the of 2000, there were 294,565 people, 120,512 households, and 70,981 families residing in the county. The was 217/km² (563/sq mi). There were 129,972 housing units at an average density of 96/km² (248/sq mi). The racial makeup of the county was 83.19%, 11.08% or , 0.21% , 2.75% , 0.03% , 1.05% from , and 1.70% from two or more races. 3.08% of the population were or  of any race. 90.4% spoke, 2.7% and 1.0%  as their first language.

There were 120,512 households out of which 27.90% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 43.20% were living together, 12.20% had a female householder with no husband present, and 41.10% were non-families. 33.00% of all households were made up of individuals and 11.30% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.32 and the average family size was 2.99.

In the county the population was spread out with 22.60% under the age of 18, 11.30% from 18 to 24, 28.80% from 25 to 44, 22.80% from 45 to 64, and 14.50% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females there were 91.70 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 87.80 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $42,935, and the median income for a family was $56,724. Males had a median income of $39,838 versus $30,127 for females. The for the county was $23,345. About 7.20% of families and 10.60% of the population were below the, including 12.90% of those under age 18 and 7.30% of those age 65 or over.