San Juan County, Washington

San Juan County is a located in the  of, composed of most of the. It is named after, which was named after (San Juan Bautista) by its European discoverer, Spanish explorer , in. As of, the population is 14,077. The county seat is at on San Juan Island, which is also the county's largest city.

San Juan County was created out of on, .  It is the smallest of Washington's 39 counties in land area.

Geography
According to the, the county has a total area of 1,609 (621 ). Of this, 453 km² (175 sq mi) of it is land and 1,156 km² (446 sq mi) of it (71.84%) is water. The highest point in the county is on Orcas Island at 2,407 feet (734 meters) above sea level.

Major islands
There are 743 islands in the San Juan Island chain. Most of the population lives on the largest four, listed here from largest to smallest geographical area. These islands are the only four San Juan Islands served by the.
 * (147.37 km²/56.9 sq mi)
 * (143.23 km²/55.3 sq mi)
 * (76.40 km²/29.5 sq mi)
 * (19.94 km²/7.7 sq mi)

Physical Characteristics
San Juan comprises a total land mass of 179 square miles. It is the smallest of Washington's 39 counties. San Juan County is a cluster of approx. 200 islands (172 of which are named.)The main ones are San Juan, Orcas, Lopez, and Shaw Islands. It has rugged mountainous terrain that is both steep and rocky.

Adjacent counties

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

It also shares a western border with the, ,.

Demographics
As of the of 2000, there were 14,077 people, 6,466 households, and 4,015 families residing in the county. The was 31/km² (80/sq mi). There were 9,752 housing units at an average density of 22/km² (56/sq mi). The racial makeup of the county was 94.99%, 0.26% or , 0.83% , 0.89% , 0.09% , 0.91% from , and 2.04% from two or more races. 2.40% of the population were or  of any race. 16.7% were of, 15.0% , 11.6% , 5.7% or American, 5.4%  and 5.0%  ancestry according to Census 2000.

There were 6,466 households out of which 22.90% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 51.80% were living together, 6.90% had a female householder with no husband present, and 37.90% were non-families. 30.60% of all households were made up of individuals and 10.70% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.16 and the average family size was 2.65.

In the county, the population was spread out with 19.10% under the age of 18, 4.50% from 18 to 24, 21.70% from 25 to 44, 35.70% from 45 to 64, and 19.00% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 47 years. For every 100 females there were 95.10 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 93.00 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $43,491, and the median income for a family was $51,835. Males had a median income of $36,250 versus $26,516 for females. The for the county was $30,603. About 6.00% of families and 9.20% of the population were below the, including 12.40% of those under age 18 and 3.10% of those age 65 or over.

The majority of the county is served by San Juan Island EMS. http://www.sanjuanems.org

Politics
San Juan County is an affluent area with a politically lean. The only area to vote for in 2004 was the / precinct, with just over 50 votes. On the opposite extreme, 's precinct gave 96.5% of the vote to. In 2006, all precincts gave a majority vote to, the Democratic Senator.

History

 * The San Juan Islands were disputed territory between England and the United States from 1846-1872, leading to the in 1859.