Aitkin County, Minnesota

Aitkin County is a located in the  of. As of, the population is 15,301. Its is. A portion of the is in the county.

History
Aitkin County was established in as Aiken County and had a spelling change of its name to the current spelling in. Aitkin County was named after, a fur trader for the , under. Aiken County originally consisted of the 17 closest to. It acquired out-lands of and  Counties to its north and east. It was reorganized in, taking up lands from and  Counties and losing a point located in the southwestern corner to  County to form its current boundaries.

Geography
According to the, the county has a total area of 5,168 (1,995 ). 4,712 km² (1,819 sq mi) of it is land and 456 km² (176 sq mi) of it (8.82%) is water.

The county contains what is locally referred to as the, a swampy area extending north from Aitkin to within about 10 miles of Hill City. Highway 6 runs through it. Until relatively recently, there were no buildings of any kind through its entire length, making it a most unpleasant spot to suffer a breakdown.

Adjacent counties

 * (north)
 * (northeast)
 * (east)
 * (southeast)
 * (south)
 * (south)
 * (southwest)
 * (northwest)

Demographics
As of the of 2000, there were 15,301 people, 6,644 households, and 4,458 families residing in the county. The was 3/km² (8/sq mi). There were 14,168 housing units at an average density of 3/km² (8/sq mi). The racial makeup of the county was 96.41%, 0.23% or , 2.28% , 0.20% , 0.02% , 0.16% from , and 0.71% from two or more races. 0.60% of the population were or  of any race. 29.5% were of, 14.3% , 13.0% , 6.2% , 5.3% or American and 5.2%  ancestry.

There were 6,644 households out of which 22.60% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 57.50% were living together, 6.30% had a female householder with no husband present, and 32.90% were non-families. 28.70% of all households were made up of individuals and 14.00% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.28 and the average family size was 2.76.

In the county the population was spread out with 20.90% under the age of 18, 5.50% from 18 to 24, 21.60% from 25 to 44, 29.10% from 45 to 64, and 23.00% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 46 years. For every 100 females there were 101.60 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 99.90 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $31,139, and the median income for a family was $37,290. Males had a median income of $31,604 versus $20,633 for females. The for the county was $17,848. About 8.20% of families and 11.60% of the population were below the, including 15.50% of those under age 18 and 11.00% of those age 65 or over.

''On ePodunk : Aitkin County	& [http://www.epodunk.com/cgi-bin/genealogyInfo.php?locIndex=20794 Aitkin Cty. ancestry]''