York County, Maine

York County is a located in the  of. As of 2000, the population was 186,742. Its is.

Geography
According to the, the county has a total area of 3,293 (1,271 ). 2,566 km² (991 sq mi) of it is land and 726 km² (280 sq mi) of it (22.06%) is water.

Adjacent Counties

 * - north
 * - northeast
 * - southwest
 * - west
 * - northwest

Demographics
As of the of 2000, there were 186,742 people, 74,563 households, and 50,851 families residing in the county. The was 73/km² (188/sq mi). There were 94,234 housing units at an average density of 37/km² (95/sq mi). The racial makeup of the county was 97.56%, 0.42% or , 0.24% , 0.73% , 0.03% , 0.17% from , and 0.85% from two or more races. 0.70% of the population were or  of any race. The most cited ethnicities were (17.9%),  (14.5%),  (13.9%),  (12.5%),  or American (9.6%) and  (5.1%). 90.84% of the population spoke and 6.92% spoke  as their first language.

There were 74,563 households out of which 32.20% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 55.00% were living together, 9.50% had a female householder with no husband present, and 31.80% were non-families. 24.90% of all households were made up of individuals and 9.70% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.47 and the average family size was 2.96.

In the county the population was spread out with 24.80% under the age of 18, 6.90% from 18 to 24, 30.00% from 25 to 44, 24.80% from 45 to 64, and 13.60% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females there were 94.50 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.40 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $43,630, and the median income for a family was $51,419. Males had a median income of $36,317 versus $26,016 for females. The for the county was $21,225. About 5.90% of families and 8.20% of the population were below the, including 9.90% of those under age 18 and 8.50% of those age 65 or over.

1622 Patent
The first patent establishing the Province of Maine was granted on, to  and  by the , which itself had been granted a royal patent by  to the coast of  between the 40th to the 48th parallel "from sea to sea". This first patent encompassed the coast between the and  rivers, as well as an irregular parcel of land between the headwaters of the two rivers. In, Gorges and Mason agreed to split the patent at the , with Mason retaining the land south of the river as the.

Gorges named his more northerly piece of territory. This venture failed, however, because of lack of funds and colonial settlement.

1639 Patent
In Gorges obtained a renewed patent, the, for the area between the Piscataqua and Kennebec Rivers, in the form of a royal charter from. The area was roughly the same as that covered in the 1622 patent after the 1629 split with Mason. The second colony also foundered for lack of money and settlers.

Absorption
In, what had been the Province of Maine was given a grant by to. Under the terms of this patent the territory was incorporated into, part of the. Unlike the previous two patents, the territory stipulated in the 1664 charter encompassed the areas north of the Kennebec River to the. This region, which had previously been called the, forms the eastern portion of the present day state of Maine. The patent to James for this territory was renewed in and survives in.

After a series of further permutations, the former Province had become, by the 18th century, part of the, later the state of. The region achieved statehood of its own only in.