Bladen County, North Carolina

Bladen County is a located in the  of. As of 2000, the population was 32,278. Its is.

History
Bladen County was formed in as Bladen Precinct of, from. It was named for, a member of the. With the abolition of Bath County in, all of its constituent precincts became counties.

Originally, Bladen was a vast territory with indefinite northern and western boundaries. Reductions in its extent began in, when its western part became. In the northern part of Bladen County was combined with parts of  and  to form. In the northern part of what was left of Bladen County became. In the southern part of what remained of Bladen County was combined with part of  to form. In the western part of the now much smaller county became. Finally, in the southern part of Bladen County was combined with part of Brunswick County to form.

Law and government
Bladen County is a member of the regional.

Geography
According to the, the county has a total area of 2,298 (887 ). 2,266 km² (875 sq mi) of it is land and 32 km² (12 sq mi) of it (1.37%) is water.

Townships
The county is divided into sixteen : Abbotts, Bethel, Bladenboro, Brown Marsh, Carvers Creek, Central, Colly, Cypress Creek, Elizabethtown, East Arcadia, Frenches Creek, Hollow, Lake Creek, Turnbull, White Oak, and Whites Creek.

Adjacent Counties

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

Demographics
As of the of 2000, there were 32,278 people, 12,897 households, and 8,937 families residing in the county. The was 14/km² (37/sq mi). There were 15,316 housing units at an average density of 7/km² (18/sq mi). The racial makeup of the county was 57.22%, 37.91% or , 2.04% , 0.10% , 0.04% , 1.97% from , and 0.73% from two or more races. 3.71% of the population were or  of any race.

By 2005 55.8% of the population of Bladen County was non-Hispanic whites. 36.8% of the population was African-American. 5.0% of the population of Latino was Latino. 2.3% of the population was Native American.

There were 12,897 households out of which 30.40% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 48.90% were living together, 15.70% had a female householder with no husband present, and 30.70% were non-families. 27.70% of all households were made up of individuals and 11.50% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.45 and the average family size was 2.97.

In the county the population was spread out with 24.60% under the age of 18, 8.70% from 18 to 24, 27.20% from 25 to 44, 25.20% from 45 to 64, and 14.20% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females there were 92.60 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 88.70 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $26,877, and the median income for a family was $33,974. Males had a median income of $27,799 versus $21,973 for females. The for the county was $14,735. About 16.60% of families and 21.00% of the population were below the, including 28.70% of those under age 18 and 24.20% of those age 65 or over.