Pender County, North Carolina

Pender County is a located in the  of. As of 2000, the population was 41,082. Its is.

History
The county was formed in from. It was named for of, a  general mortally wounded at the. It is in the southeastern section of the State and is bounded by the Atlantic Ocean and New Hanover, Brunswick, Columbus, Bladen, Sampson, Duplin and Onslow counties. The present land area is 870.76 square miles and the 1990 population was 28,855. The county commissioners were ordered to hold their first meeting at Rocky Point. The act provided for the establishment of the town of Cowan as the county seat. In 1877 an act was passed repealing that section of the law relative to the town, and another law was enacted whereby the qualified voters were to vote on the question of moving the county seat to South Washington or any other place which the majority of the voters designated. Whatever place was selected, the town should be called Stanford. In 1879 Stanford was changed to Burgaw, which was by that law incorporated. It is the county seat.

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

Geography
According to the, the county has a total area of 2,416 (933 ). 2,255 km² (871 sq mi) of it is land and 160 km² (62 sq mi) of it (6.64%) is water.

Townships
The county is divided into ten : Burgaw, Canetuck, Caswell, Columbia, Grady, Holly, Long Creek, Rocky Point, Topsail, and Union.

Adjacent Counties

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

Demographics
As of the of 2000, there were 41,082 people, 16,054 households, and 11,719 families residing in the county. The was 18/km² (47/sq mi). There were 20,798 housing units at an average density of 9/km² (24/sq mi). The racial makeup of the county was 72.74%, 23.58% or , 0.49% , 0.18% , 0.03% , 2.03% from , and 0.94% from two or more races. 3.64% of the population were or  of any race.

In 2005 74.0% of the population was non-Hispanic whites. 20.7% of the population was African-American. 4.6% of the population was Latino. By 2006 Pender County had a population of 48,630, which represented an 18.4% increase in the population since 2000.

There were 16,054 households out of which 29.40% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 57.90% were living together, 11.20% had a female householder with no husband present, and 27.00% were non-families. 22.90% of all households were made up of individuals and 8.50% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.49 and the average family size was 2.90.

In the county the population was spread out with 23.20% under the age of 18, 7.40% from 18 to 24, 29.50% from 25 to 44, 25.80% from 45 to 64, and 14.10% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females there were 101.20 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 99.50 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $35,902, and the median income for a family was $41,633. Males had a median income of $31,424 versus $21,623 for females. The for the county was $17,882. About 9.50% of families and 13.60% of the population were below the, including 18.60% of those under age 18 and 14.40% of those age 65 or over.

Notable residents

 * , born in Rocky Point township, delegate to the
 * , born in Rocky Point township, nephew of the above, from
 * , born in Rocky Point township, United States Congressman from North Carolina