Lake County, Ohio

Lake County is a located in the  of. As of 2000, the population was 227,511. The is, and the county  comes from its location on the southern shore of.

Geography
According to the, the county has a total area of 2,535 (979 ). 591 km² (228 sq mi) of it is land and 1,944 km² (751 sq mi) of it (76.69%) is water. Lake County is Ohio's smallest county by land area.

Adjacent counties

 * Across lies the province of,  (north)
 * (east)
 * (south and east)
 * (south and west)

Demographics
As of the of 2000, there were 227,511 people, 89,700 households, and 62,520 families residing in the county. The was 385/km² (997/sq mi). There were 93,487 housing units at an average density of 158/km² (410/sq mi). The racial makeup of the county was 95.40%, 1.99% or , 0.11% , 0.90% , 0.02% , 0.66% from , and 0.92% from two or more races. 1.70% of the population were or  of any race.

There were 89,700 households out of which 31.10% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 56.10% were living together, 10.00% had a female householder with no husband present, and 30.30% were non-families. 25.60% of all households were made up of individuals and 9.80% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.50 and the average family size was 3.03.

In the county, the population was spread out with 24.20% under the age of 18, 7.30% from 18 to 24, 29.70% from 25 to 44, 24.70% 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 94.50 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.50 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $48,763, and the median income for a family was $57,134. Males had a median income of $40,916 versus $28,434 for females. The for the county was $23,160. About 3.50% of families and 5.10% of the population were below the, including 6.50% of those under age 18 and 5.40% of those age 65 or over.

Government
Main article: .

Environment
Scorecard ranks Lake County among the worst 10% of counties in the U.S. in terms of cancer risk, developmental and reproductive toxicants, and other categories as well; this is comparable with most major cities and densely populated areas. Lake County is also home to a nuclear power plant, in, located on the shore of Lake Erie.

Lake County has a large public park system. is home to the and the location of. is located in and. The is a state wild and scenic river and the  is a state scenic river.

Transportation
is the transit agency servicing Lake County. runs northeast/southwest through Lake County, roughly parallel to ; together these roads make up the major traffic arteries in the county. There is currently no passenger rail service in Lake County.

Library services
Lake County is served by the following libraries:
 * Fairport Harbor Public Library in
 * Kirtland Public Library in
 * Madison Public Library in
 * Mentor Public Library in
 * Morley Public Library in
 * Perry Public Library in
 * Wickliffe Public Library in
 * Willoughby-Eastlake Public Library, headquartered in with branches in, , and . In 2005, the library loaned more than 1.2 million items to its 37,000 cardholders. Total holding are over 216,000 volumes with over 850 periodical subscriptions.