Rice County, Minnesota

Rice County is a located in the  of. As of 2000, the population was 56,665. Its is.

Geography
According to the, the county has a total area of 1,337 (516 ). 1,289 km² (498 sq mi) of it is land and 48 km² (19 sq mi) of it (3.60%) is water. The flows northeastwardly through the county, collecting the  in Faribault. The North Fork of the has its headwaters in the southeastern part of the county.

Lakes

 * Cannon Lake: almost entirely in, but the far western part extends into
 * Caron Lake: in
 * Cedar Lake: in is probably the finest skinny-dipping lake of the bunch in the county[[Image:Henry-Rice.jpg|thumb|right| one of Minnesota's first senators; County named after him.]]
 * Circle Lake: in
 * Crystal Lake: in
 * Duban Lake: in
 * Dudley Lake: in
 * Fox Lake: in
 * French Lake: mostly in, but the western part extends into
 * Hatch Lake: in
 * Horseshoe Lake: eastern third is in ; the rest is in
 * Hunt Lake: in
 * Kelly Lake: in
 * Mazaska Lake: in four different townships: ,,
 * Metogga Lake: in
 * Mud Lake: in
 * Phelps Lake: all of the northern Phelps Lake is in ; the northern third of the southern Phelps Lake is in and the rest is in
 * Rice Lake: in [[Image:RiceCountyMNcourthouse2006-09.JPG|thumb|right|.]]
 * Roberds Lake: in
 * Sakatah Lake: eastern half is in ; western half is in
 * Shields Lake: northern half is in and the southern half is in
 * Sprague Lake: in
 * Union Lake: souther half is in ; northern half is in
 * Weinberger Lake: in
 * Wells Lake: mostly in, but the southern part extends into
 * Willing Lake: in

Demographics
As of the of 2000, there were 56,665 people, 18,888 households, and 13,353 families residing in the county. The was 44/km² (114/sq mi). There were 20,061 housing units at an average density of 16/km² (40/sq mi). The racial makeup of the county was 93.59%, 1.31% or , 0.43% , 1.46% , 0.04% , 1.87% from , and 1.30% from two or more races. 5.50% of the population were or  of any race. 32.1% were of, 14.7% , 7.2% and 5.3%  ancestry according to.

There were 18,888 households out of which 36.50% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 58.10% were living together, 8.60% had a female householder with no husband present, and 29.30% were non-families. 23.90% of all households were made up of individuals and 9.10% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.65 and the average family size was 3.14.

In the county the population was spread out with 25.30% under the age of 18, 15.80% from 18 to 24, 27.40% from 25 to 44, 20.20% from 45 to 64, and 11.40% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 33 years. For every 100 females there were 101.80 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 100.30 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $48,651, and the median income for a family was $56,407. Males had a median income of $36,771 versus $26,151 for females. The for the county was $19,695. About 4.00% of families and 6.90% of the population were below the, including 5.70% of those under age 18 and 10.70% of those age 65 or over.

Cities and towns
† Dennison is in, but a small part extends into Rice County. ‡ A part of Northfield extends into.

County Parks

 * 3 miles west of
 * in
 * 4 miles north of
 * in
 * 1 mile east of
 * in
 * 10 miles west of
 * in
 * in
 * 2 miles west of

External link

 * Rice County government’s website