Kitsap County, Washington

Kitsap County is a located in the  of, named after  of the  tribe. As of 2000, its population is 231,969. Its county seat is at, and its largest city is.

Kitsap County was formed out of and  on,. Originally named Slaughter County, it was soon renamed.

The is of great importance to the county because it is the largest employer in the county, with installations at,  , and  (which is comprised of former NSB Bangor, and NS Bremerton).

Kitsap County is connected to the eastern shore of by  runs from  to  ,  to  via ,  to Downtown Seattle, and from  to

Geography
In addition to occupying most of the, Kitsap County includes both and. According to the, the county has a total area of 1,466 (566 ). 1,026 km² (396 sq mi) of it is land and 440 km² (170 sq mi) of it (30.04%) is water. According to Puget Sound Partnership, Kitsap county has over 250 miles of saltwater shoreline.

The portion of the county north of is often referred to as, and the portion south of Bremerton as.

Adjacent counties

 * - northeast
 * - east
 * - east/southeast
 * - south/southeast
 * - southwest
 * - northwest

Demographics
As of the of 2000, there were 231,969 people, 86,416 households, and 61,355 families residing in the county. The was 226/km² (586/sq mi). There were 92,644 housing units at an average density of 90/km² (234/sq mi). The racial makeup of the county was 84.27%, 2.87% or , 1.62% , 4.39% , 0.78% , 1.43% from , and 4.64% from two or more races. 4.14% of the population were or  of any race. 15.6% were of, 10.4% , 9.8% , 7.2% or American and 7.0%  ancestry according to Census 2000. 92.2% spoke, 2.5% and 2.2%  as their first language.

There were 86,416 households out of which 36.00% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 57.70% were living together, 9.50% had a female householder with no husband present, and 29.00% were non-families. 22.60% of all households were made up of individuals and 7.60% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.60 and the average family size was 3.05.

In the county, the population was spread out with 26.80% under the age of 18, 9.20% from 18 to 24, 29.60% from 25 to 44, 23.80% from 45 to 64, and 10.60% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females there were 102.70 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 101.20 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $46,840, and the median income for a family was $53,878. Males had a median income of $39,889 versus $28,586 for females. The for the county was $22,317. About 6.30% of families and 8.80% of the population were below the, including 10.90% of those under age 18 and 6.00% of those age 65 or over.

Politics
Kitsap County is generally considered to be a marginally area. In the, Democrat received 51.3% of the vote to  's 46.9%. Since elections have been close in recent years it is considered an electoral battleground county in Washington state politics.

On mainland Kitsap County, politics are dominated by working-class, which casts moderate margins for Democratic candidates. However, population shifts have resulted in Bremerton playing less of a role in politics, and unincorporated Kitsap County is a mix of battleground areas and staunchly Republican areas. Non-Bremerton parts of incorporated mainland Kitsap County vary, with being marginally Republican,  somewhat Democratic, and  having been an exact tie in the 2004 election.

Democrats normally carry the s of the area by wide margins; the area around (part of the ) regularly gives Democratic candidates landslides of 10-to-1. The heavily white (across from Bainbridge Island) also gives Democrats victories of upwards of 2-to-1.

Democratic legislative electoral control of Kitsap County is partly due to, which casts a significant number of votes and is almost 3-to-1 Democratic. Bainbridge Island's growth and Democratic trend offsets population losses of Bremerton, generally resulting in the county as a whole being stable but very close.

The Kitsap County Auditor Website has detailed election results from 1998 to the present. County area political trends can be tracked by analyzing the election precinct data.

Board of County Commissioners
Steve Bauer (D) - District #1, North Kitsap (Steve replaced Chris Endresen by appointment in July 2007 and will finish Endresen's term through 2008. Endresen resigned in June 2007 to become chief of staff for U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell.)

Jan Angel (R) - District #2, South Kitsap

(D) - District #3, Central Kitsap

Other communities





 * (former city, now part of incorporated Bainbridge Island)
 * (former city, now part of incorporated Bainbridge Island)
 * (former city, now part of incorporated Bainbridge Island)
 * (former city, now part of incorporated Bainbridge Island)
 * (former city, now part of incorporated Bainbridge Island)
 * (former city, now part of incorporated Bainbridge Island)
 * (former city, now part of incorporated Bainbridge Island)
 * (former city, now part of incorporated Bainbridge Island)
 * (former city, now part of incorporated Bainbridge Island)
 * (former city, now part of incorporated Bainbridge Island)
 * (former city, now part of incorporated Bainbridge Island)
 * (former city, now part of incorporated Bainbridge Island)
 * (former city, now part of incorporated Bainbridge Island)
 * (former city, now part of incorporated Bainbridge Island)
 * (former city, now part of incorporated Bainbridge Island)
 * (former city, now part of incorporated Bainbridge Island)
 * (former city, now part of incorporated Bainbridge Island)
 * (former city, now part of incorporated Bainbridge Island)
 * (former city, now part of incorporated Bainbridge Island)

School Districts
Central Kitsap, North Kitsap, South Kitsap, Bainbridge Island

In Fiction
Kitsap County was the location of the film  with and. Also, the film and comic book series,, takes place in the future of Kitsap County. David Guterson's 1995 best-selling novel was placed on a fictional island whose geography, weather, and demographics matched Bainbridge Island, where Guterson resides. Given that the novel is based on racial conflict between whites and Japanese-Americans, it is significant that Bainbridge Island was the site of the first removal of Japanese-Americans in 1942 to internment camps.