Alpine County, California

Alpine County is the smallest, by population, in the of. As of the, it had a population of 1,208. There are no incorporated cities in the county. The is.

Alpine County is located in the, between and.

History
Alpine County was created in during a  boom in the wake of the nearby  discovery. The county was formed from parts of, , and  Counties. At its formation, the county had a population of about 11,000. By 1868 however, the local silver mines had proven unfruitful, and the population fell to about 1,200.

After the silver rush, Alpine County's economy consisted almost entirely of farming, ranching, and logging. By the 1920s, the population had fallen to just 200 people. With the construction of the and  ski resorts in the late 1960s, the population increased to the present level.

Geography
According to the, the county has a total area of 1,925 (743 ). 1,913 km² (739 sq mi) of it is land and 12 km² (5 sq mi) of it (0.61%) is water.

Adjacent Counties

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

Major Highways

 * [[Image:California 4.svg|20px]]
 * [[Image:California 88.svg|20px]]
 * [[Image:California 89.svg|20px]]

Public Transportation
There is limited, call ahead, public transportation provided by agreement with neighboring (There are a few trailhead shuttles, designed for hikers).

Airport
is a general aviation airport located near Markleeville.

Demographics
As of the of 2000, there were 1,208 people, 483 households, and 295 families residing in the county. The was 1/km² (2/sq mi). There were 1,514 housing units at an average density of 1/km² (2/sq mi). The racial makeup of the county was 73.68%, 0.58% or , 18.87% , 0.33% , 0.08% , 1.41% from , and 5.05% from two or more races. 7.78% of the population were or  of any race. 95.0% spoke, 3.1% and 2.0%  as their first language.

There were 483 households out of which 25.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 43.9% were living together, 11.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 38.9% were non-families. 27.7% of all households were made up of individuals and 5.4% 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 2.96.

In the county the population was spread out with 22.8% under the age of 18, 10.40% from 18 to 24, 27.5% from 25 to 44, 29.3% from 45 to 64, and 9.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females there were 110.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 117.2 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $41,875, and the median income for a family was $50,250. Males had a median income of $36,544 versus $25,800 for females. The for the county was $24,431. About 12.0% of families and 19.5% of the population were below the, including 27.4% of those under age 18 and 10.1% of those age 65 or over.

Almost half of the population in the county is.

Politics
Alpine was a -leaning county in and  elections for most of its history. The county narrowly voted for in  and went comfortably for  in, the first time Alpine voted  in a presidential election since , when  carried every county in California.

Alpine is part of, which is held by Republican. In the, Alpine is part of the 4th district, which is held by Republican , who was first elected to the Assembly in November 2006. In the, Alpine is part of the 1st district, which is held by Republican , who was first elected to the Senate in November 2004.