Rensselaer County, New York

Rensselaer County is a in the  of. As of the, the population was 152,538. Its name is in honor of the family of, the original owner of the land in the area. Its is. It is part of the Albany-Schenectady-Troy.

History
The county was a part of, an immense land holding purchased by from the  and  Indians, starting in 1630.

When counties were established in in, the present Rensselaer County was part of. This was an enormous county, including the northern part of present-day New York State as well as all of the present State of and, in theory, extending westward to the. This county was reduced in size on, by the creation of , and further on ,  by the creation of , both containing territory now in.

Then, on, , Albany County was divided into the counties of Albany, (now ), and  (now ). From 1772 to Albany County included, besides the present territory of Albany County, all of the present, Rensselaer, , and , parts of the present  and , and a piece of what is now southwestern Vermont.

In, Albany County was reduced in size by the splitting off of.

In, Rensselaer County (as well as ) was split off from Albany County.

Geography
Rensselaer County is in the eastern part of New York State. The eastern boundary of Rensselaer County runs along the - and - borders.

According to the, the county has a total area of 1,723 (665 ). 1,694 km² (654 sq mi) of it is land and 30 km² (11 sq mi) of it (1.72%) is water.

The terrain runs from level and flat near the Hudson and then rises into the around  and, then to the  along the Massachusetts state line.

The highest point is Berlin Mountain, 2,818 feet (859 m) above sea level, in the town of Berlin. The lowest point is sea level at the Hudson.

The, a tributary of the , is in the north part of the county.

Adjacent Counties

 * - north
 * - northeast
 * - southeast
 * - south
 * - southwest
 * - west
 * - northwest

Demographics
As of the of 2000, there were 152,538 people, 59,894 households, and 39,050 families residing in the county. The was 90/km² (233/sq mi). There were 66,120 housing units at an average density of 39/km² (101/sq mi). The racial makeup of the county was 91.13%, 4.69% or , 0.23% , 1.71% , 0.02% , 0.89% from , and 1.34% from two or more races. 2.11% of the population were or  of any race.

There were 59,894 households out of which 31.30% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 48.80% were living together, 12.00% had a female householder with no husband present, and 34.80% were non-families. 27.90% of all households were made up of individuals and 10.30% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.46 and the average family size was 3.02.

In the county the population was spread out with 24.20% under the age of 18, 10.10% from 18 to 24, 29.10% from 25 to 44, 23.00% from 45 to 64, and 13.60% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females there were 95.90 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 93.70 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $42,905, and the median income for a family was $52,864. Males had a median income of $36,666 versus $28,153 for females. The for the county was $21,095. About 6.70% of families and 9.50% of the population were below the, including 11.90% of those under age 18 and 6.60% of those age 65 or over.

Government
Beginning in 1791 Rensselaer County was governed by a Board of Supervisors, which acted as the legislature, with the chairman of the board serving as a de-facto Executive. In 1970 the Rensselaer County Legislature was created, which elected Edward J. "Ned" Quinn as Chaiman. The Chairman served as the equivalent to an executive until the office of County Executive was created in 1972. Since its creation, Democrats have never won the office although they the County Legislature several times until 1994. One notable candidate for Executive was who was later elected to Congress and whose son Mark served two terms as Mayor of Troy. The current county executive is. She is one of only three woman county executives in New York State.Legislative authority is vested in the County Legislature, which consists of 19 members representing 16 different communities, separated into six districts. The current make up of the legislature is as follows, 13 Republicans and 6 Democrats:

District 1, :

Neil J. Kelleher, Chairman (R) Robert Mirch, Majority Leader, District 1 (C) James Brearton, District 1 (R) Nancy McHugh, District 1 (R) Laura Bauer, District 1, (R) Peter Grimm, District 1, (D)

District 2,, and :

Ginny O'Brien, Minority Leader (D) Keith Hammond, Deputy Minoirty Leader, District 2 (D) W. Kenneth Harrington, District 2, (D) Brian Zweig, District 2 (D)

District 3,, , and :

Thomas Walsh, Vice Chairman (R) Ken Salisbury,Vice Chairman/Finance (R) Kenneth Harrington (R)

District 4,, , and :

Flora Fasoldt (D) Martin Reid (R) Edward Swartz (R)

District 5,, , , & :

Stanley Brownell (R) Lester Goodermote (R)

District 6, :

Mike Stammel (R)

Cities, towns, villages, and other locations

 * (town)
 * (town)
 * (village)
 * (town)
 * (village)
 * (town)
 * (village)
 * (town)
 * (town)
 * (village)
 * (town)
 * (town)
 * (town)
 * (town)
 * (city)
 * (town)
 * (town)
 * (village)
 * (town)
 * (town)
 * (city)
 * (village)
 * => label in parentheses is official designation.
 * (village)
 * => label in parentheses is official designation.
 * => label in parentheses is official designation.
 * => label in parentheses is official designation.