Stanislaus County, California

Stanislaus County is a located in the  of the  of, between  and. As the price of housing increases in the, many commuters have moved to Stanislaus County. As of 2000 the population was 446,997. The is.

History
Stanislaus County was formed from part of in.

The county is named for the, first discovered by in , and later renamed Rio Estanislao in honor of , a mission-educated   chief who led a band of Indians in a series of battles against  troops until finally being defeated by   in. Estanislao was his baptismal name, the Spanish rendition of Stanislaus, itself the Latin rendition of the name of an 11th century.

The final "S" in "Stanislaus" is pronounced, not silent. This depends on who you ask, and how long they have lived here. Old-timers tend to leave off the final "s", while newcomers pronounce it.

Geography and Environment
According to the, the county has a total area of 3,923 (1,515 ). 3,869 km² (1,494 sq mi) of it is land and 54 km² (21 sq mi) of it (1.38%) is water. There are a number or rare and that are found in Stanislaus County. The Beaked Clarkia, (), is listed as a candidate for the Federal Endangered Species List. It has only been found in - associations in the of the, a  which occurs at moderately high elevations. Colusa Grass, () is listed as endangered by the State. It is restricted to s. (Torrey, 1989)

Cities and towns






Adjacent Counties

 * - southwest
 * - northwest
 * - north
 * - northeast
 * - south

Note:There is a four way county border between, , , and ies.

Major Highways

 * [[Image:I-5.svg|20px]]
 * [[Image:California 4.svg|20px]]
 * [[Image:California 33.svg|20px]]
 * [[Image:California 99.svg|20px]]
 * [[Image:California 108.svg|20px]]
 * [[Image:California 120.svg|20px]]
 * [[Image:California 132.svg|20px]]

Public Transportation

 * (StaRT) provides fixed route and dial-a-ride service throught the county. StaRT also connects with in Gustine and Turlock.
 * (MAX) operates within Modesto, with limited service to Salida, Empire and Ceres. MAX also runs special commuter routes connecting with the and  rail systems.
 * The cities of Ceres, Oakdale, Riverbank and Turlock run small local bus systems.
 * Both and  have stops in Modesto and Turlock.

Airports
has a number of scheduled passenger flights. Other (general aviation) airports around the county include, , and.

Demographics
As of the of 2000, there were 446,997 people, 145,146 households, and 109,585 families residing in the county. The was 116/km² (299/sq mi). There were 150,807 housing units at an average density of 39/km² (101/sq mi). The racial makeup of the county was 69.33%, 2.58% or , 1.27% , 4.22% , 0.34% , 16.82% from , and 5.44% from two or more races. 31.74% of the population were or. 67.8% spoke, 23.7% , 1.5% and 1.3%  as their first language.

There were 145,146 households out of which 41.20% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 56.0% were living together, 13.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 24.5% were non-families. 19.4% of all households were made up of individuals and 7.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.03 and the average family size was 3.47.

In the county the population was spread out with 31.1% under the age of 18, 9.8% from 18 to 24, 29.0% from 25 to 44, 19.5% from 45 to 64, and 10.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 32 years. For every 100 females there were 96.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 93.4 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $40,101, and the median income for a family was $44,703. Males had a median income of $36,969 versus $26,595 for females. The for the county was $16,913. About 12.3% of families and 16.0% of the population were below the, including 20.5% of those under age 18 and 8.8% of those age 65 or over.

Politics
Stanislaus is a Republican-leaning county in and  elections. The last Democrat to win a majority in the county was in.

Stanislaus is part of California's and  congressional districts, which are held respectively by Democrat  and Republican. In the Stanislaus is in the 17th, 25th, and 26th districts, which are held by Democrat  and Republicans  and  respectively. In the, Stanislaus is part of the 12th and 14th Senate districts, which are held by Republicans and , respectively.

Economy
is Stanislaus County's number two industry.