Placer County, California

Placer County is a located in the  of the  of, in what is known as the. It stretches from the suburbs of to  and the  border. Because of the expansion of the Sacramento metropolitan area, Placer County is one of the fastest growing counties in the state. It is also considered one of the more politically and morally conservative counties and has less ethnic diversity than is found in other suburban regions of California. As of 2000, the population was 248,399. In, the population had grown to 307,004. The is.

History
Placer County was created from parts of and  Counties in.

"Placer" is probably a contraction of the words plaza de oro (the place of ) and in means "a place near a river where gold is found." The county derived its name from the numerous places where the method of extracting gold from the earth, called, was practiced.

Geography
According to the, the county has a total area of 3892 (1503 ). 3637 km² (1404 sq mi) of it is land and 255 km² (98 sq mi) of it (6.55%) is water. Watercourses in Placer County include the and.

Adjacent Counties

 * - south
 *  - southwest
 * - west
 * - northwest
 * - north
 * - east
 * - east
 * - southeast

Major Highways

 * [[Image:I-80 (CA).svg|20px]]
 * [[Image:California 28.svg|20px]]
 * [[Image:California 49.svg|20px]]
 * [[Image:California 65.svg|20px]]
 * [[Image:California 89.svg|20px]]
 * [[Image:California 174.svg|20px]]
 * [[Image:California 267.svg|20px]]

Public Transportation

 * provides basic bus service primarily along the I-80 corridor between Alta and the Watt Ave. light rail station. PCT also runs commuter service to Downtown Sacramento.
 * The cities of, , and have their own local transit service.
 * (Nevada County) provides a connection between Auburn and Grass Valley.
 * operates in (Nevada County),  and along the North Shore of  to.
 * and provide long distance intercity service.

Airports
There are three general aviation airports in Placer County:

Demographics
As of the of 2000, there were 248,399 people, 93,382 households, and 67,701 families residing in the county. The was 68/km² (177/sq mi). There were 107,302 housing units at an average density of 30/km² (76/sq mi). The racial makeup of the county was 88.59%, 0.82% or , 0.89% , 2.95% , 0.16% , 3.39% from , and 3.21% from two or more races. 9.67% of the population were or  of any race. 89.7% spoke and 6.0%  as their first language.

There were 93,382 households out of which 35.30% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 59.40% were living together, 9.20% had a female householder with no husband present, and 27.50% were non-families. 21.30% of all households were made up of individuals and 8.10% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.63 and the average family size was 3.06.

In the county the population was spread out with 26.50% under the age of 18, 6.90% from 18 to 24, 29.00% from 25 to 44, 24.50% from 45 to 64, and 13.10% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females there were 96.40 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 93.90 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $57,535, and the median income for a family was $65,858. Males had a median income of $50,410 versus $33,763 for females. The for the county was $27,963. About 3.90% of families and 5.80% of the population were below the, including 6.30% of those under age 18 and 3.80% of those age 65 or over.

Politics
Placer is a strongly county in  and  elections. The last Democrat to win a majority in the county was in.

Placer is part of, which is held by Republican. In the, Placer is part of the 3rd, 4th, and 5th districts, which are held by Republicans , , and respectively. In the, Placer is mostly in the 1st district with parts in the 4th district. Both districts are held by Republicans, and  respectively.