Piscataquis County, Maine

Piscataquis County is a located in the  of. In, its population was 17,235. Its is.

Piscataquis County was incorporated in 1838, taken from parts of adjacent Penobscot and Somerset counties. It is located at the geographic center of Maine. Originally it extended north to the Canadian border, but in 1844 its northern portion was annexed by. In land area, Piscataquis is one of the largest U.S. counties east of the.

Piscataquis is an word meaning "branch of the river" or "at the river branch."

Geography
According to the, the county has a total area of 11,337 (4,377 ). 10,272 km² (3,966 sq mi) of it is land and 1,065 km² (411 sq mi) of it (9.39%) is water. The largest lake in the county is at 120 square miles (310 km²). The highest point in the county is at 5,271 feet (1,606 meters), while the geographic center is Greeley Landing in the Town of Dover-Foxcroft.

Adjacent Counties

 * - north
 * - southeast
 * - west

Demographics
As of the of 2000, there were 17,235 people, 7,278 households, and 4,854 families residing in the county. The was 2/km² (4/sq mi). There were 13,783 housing units at an average density of 1/km² (4/sq mi). The racial makeup of the county was 97.84%, 0.21% or , 0.52% , 0.27% , 0.02% , 0.14% from , and 1.00% from two or more races. 0.52% of the population were or  of any race. 23.6% were of, 16.4% , 15.3% or American and 11.5%  ancestry according to. 96.9% spoke and 2.0%  as their first language.

There were 7,278 households out of which 28.60% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 54.10% were living together, 8.40% had a female householder with no husband present, and 33.30% were non-families. 27.80% 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 2.34 and the average family size was 2.83.

In the county the population was spread out with 23.40% under the age of 18, 5.70% from 18 to 24, 26.00% from 25 to 44, 27.50% from 45 to 64, and 17.40% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 42 years. For every 100 females there were 96.40 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 95.20 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $28,250, and the median income for a family was $34,852. Males had a median income of $28,149 versus $20,241 for females. The for the county was $14,374. About 11.20% of families and 14.80% of the population were below the, including 17.80% of those under age 18 and 13.90% of those age 65 or over.

Government
County Commissioners: Tony Bartley, Chair (District 1, Greenville); Tom Lizotte (District 2, Dover-Foxcroft); Fred Trask (District 3, Lakeview Plantation)

County Manager: Mike Henderson (Marine Corps Reserve, Iraq)

Interim County Manager: Owen Pratt

Sheriff: John Goggin

District Attorney: Chris Almy

Judge of Probate: Doug Smith

Registrar of Probate: Judith Raymond

Registrar of Deed: Linda Smith

Treasurer: Donna Hathaway

Notable residents

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