Garrett County, Maryland

Garrett County is the westernmost of the  of  and is part of the. As of 2000, the population was 29,846. It was named for (-), president of the  from  until his death in. Its is.

Garrett County lies in the, which forms the western portion of the. The western part of the county, drained by the, is the only part of Maryland within the watershed.

History
The western part of Maryland (including the present Garrett County) was incorporated into in. This county included six current counties, and by repeated splitting, new ones were generated: from Prince George's in ;  and  from Frederick in ; and  from Washington in.

Finally, Garrett County was split off from in 1872, making it the last county to be formed in the state. The county was named for, then president of the.

Law and government
Garrett County is governed by county commissioners, the traditional form of county government in Maryland.

County Executive
The county commissioners exercise such executive powers as exist in the government of the county.

Cities and towns
Garrett County includes eight municipalities, all classified as s under Maryland law: The recognizes no Census-Designated Places in Garrett County, which is unusual for Maryland counties, which usually have many unincorporated population centers.
 * 1) (incorporated )
 * 2) (incorporated )
 * 3) (incorporated )
 * 4) (incorporated )
 * 5) (incorporated )
 * 6) (incorporated )
 * 7) (incorporated )
 * 8) (incorporated )

There are some areas in Garrett County that are not listed as CDP's, they are:



Geography
According to the, the county has a total area of 1,699 (656 ). 1,678 km² (648 sq mi) of it is land and 21 km² (8 sq mi) of it (1.21%) is water.

Garrett County is part of the, a regional media market centered in neighboring.

Adjacent counties

 * (north)
 * , and (east)
 * (southeast)
 * (south)
 * (west)
 * (northwest)

Demographics
As of the of 2000, there were 29,846 people, 11,476 households, and 8,354 families residing in the county. The was 18/km² (46/sq mi). There were 16,761 housing units at an average density of 10/km² (26/sq mi). The racial makeup of the county was 98.83%, 0.43% or , 0.07% , 0.19% , 0.02% , 0.09% from , and 0.37% from two or more races. 0.44% of the population were or  of any race. 36.1% were of, 22.9% , 9.6% and 8.8%  ancestry according to Census 2000.

There were 11,476 households out of which 32.60% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 60.70% were living together, 8.40% had a female householder with no husband present, and 27.20% were non-families. 23.50% of all households were made up of individuals and 10.60% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.55 and the average family size was 3.00.

In the county the population was spread out with 25.10% under the age of 18, 7.80% from 18 to 24, 27.60% from 25 to 44, 24.60% from 45 to 64, and 14.90% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females there were 97.20 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 93.80 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $32,238, and the median income for a family was $37,811. Males had a median income of $29,469 versus $20,673 for females. The for the county was $16,219. 13.30% of the population and 9.80% of families were below the poverty line. Out of the total people living in poverty, 16.60% are under the age of 18 and 13.90% are 65 or older.