Monroe County, New York

Monroe County is a located in the  of. As of the, the population was 735,343. It is named after, fifth. Its is the city of.

History
When counties were established in the Province of New York in, the present Monroe County was part of. This was an enormous county, including the northern part of 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 Vermont.

On, , what was left of Albany County was split into three parts, one remaining under the name Albany County. One of the other pieces,, contained the western portion (and thus, since no western boundary was specified, theoretically still extended west to the Pacific). The eastern boundary of Tryon County was approximately five miles west of the present city of, and the county included the western part of the and the area west of the West Branch of the. The area then designated as Tryon County now includes 37 counties of New York State. The county was named for, colonial governor of New York.

In the years prior to, most of the Loyalists in Tryon County fled to. In, following the peace treaty that ended the , the name of Tryon County was changed to in order to honor the general, , who had captured several places in Canada and died attempting to capture the city of , replacing the name of the hated British governor.

In, was split off from Montgomery. The actual area split off from Montgomery County was much larger than the present county, also including the present, , , , , , Monroe, , , , , , and part of and.

was created by a splitting of Ontario County in. This was much larger than the present Genesee County, however. It contained the present, , , , , , , and portions of  and Monroe Counties.

Finally, Monroe County was formed from parts of Genesee and Ontario Counties in.

Geography
Monroe County is in northwestern New York State, northeast of and northwest of.

According to the, the county has a total area of 3,537 (1,366 ). 1,708 km² (659 sq mi) of it is land and 1,829 km² (706 sq mi) of it (51.72%) is water.

Adjacent counties

 * and - north
 * - east
 * - southeast
 * - south
 * - west
 * - west

Government
The County Executive is, a former news anchor in Rochester. She is the first woman to hold the position. Monroe County is one of only three counties in New York State to currently have a woman county executive.

Economy
Monroe County is a home to a number of international businesses, including, , and , all of which make Monroe County world headquarters. , while no longer headquartered in Rochester, has its principal offices and manufacturing facilities in Monroe County.

Because of the prevalence of imaging and optical science among the industry and the universities, Rochester is known as the world capital of imaging. The 's Institute of Optics doctoral program was ranked in 2004 as number one in the country by the in number of publications published per faculty member.

The Greater Rochester area is also home to regional businesses such as, , , , and major fashion label.

Eastman Kodak has been going through successive rounds of layoffs for years, which are a strain on the local economy.

Demographics
As of the of 2000, there were 735,343 people, 286,512 households, and 184,513 families residing in the county. The was 431/km² (1,115/sq mi). There were 304,388 housing units at an average density of 178/km² (462/sq mi). The racial makeup of the county was 79.14%, 13.75% , 0.27% , 2.44% , 0.03% , 2.44% from , and 1.94% from two or more races. or of any race were 5.31% of the population. 18.6% were of, 15.3% , 11.3% and 8.3%  ancestry according to. 4.64% of the population reported speaking at home, while 1.43% speak.

There were 286,512 households out of which 31.80% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 47.40% were living together, 13.40% had a female householder with no husband present, and 35.60% were non-families. 28.60% of all households were made up of individuals and 9.90% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.47 and the average family size was 3.08.

In the county the population was spread out with 25.60% under the age of 18, 9.50% from 18 to 24, 29.30% from 25 to 44, 22.60% from 45 to 64, and 13.00% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females there were 93.00 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 89.20 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $44,891, and the median income for a family was $55,900. Males had a median income of $41,279 versus $29,553 for females. The for the county was $22,821. About 8.20% of families and 11.20% of the population were below the, including 15.50% of those under age 18 and 7.40% of those age 65 or over.