Santa Cruz County, California

Santa Cruz County is a located on the  bank of United States of California, south of the San Francisco Bay Area. This district forms the north coast of Monterey Bay. (Monterey County forms the south coast). The population in 2006 was 249,705 people. The county seat is Santa Cruz. Santa Cruz County is a member of a governmental body,.

Santa Cruz County has 276,603 residents and is situated at the northern tip of Monterey Bay, approximately 65 mi south of San Francisco, 35 mi north of Monterey, and 35 mi southwest of Silicon Valley. Its natural beauty is present in the pristine beaches, lush redwood forests, and rich farmland. It has an ideal Mediterranean climate with low humidity and sunshine 300 days a year.

History
Santa Cruz County is one of the original counties of California, established in 1850 at the time of founding the state.

Originally, the district was named "" after the Spanish found the Indians there in 1797; The great canal of the same, Branciforte is the origin of this name. Almost two months later, the county was again changed to "Santa Cruz" ("Cross"). built in 1791 and completed in 1794 was destroyed by earthquake in 1857, but a miniature model was reconstructed in 1931.

Santa Cruz County is the Gateway to the, has 29 mi of coastline and includes numerous state parks and beaches. Its quaint shops and restaurants, coupled with a multitude of cultural and recreational activities, including sailing, fishing, golfing, surfing, kayaking, hiking and biking, provide a wealth of leisure activities. The State of California owns and maintains 42,334 acre of parks in the coastal and mountainous areas of the County. The County maintains an additional 1,593 acre of parks, not including the numerous parks also found within the cities. Cultural amenities include the Santa Cruz County Symphony, the Cabrillo Music Festival,, the , the , and the.

Geography
According to the, the county has a total area of ​​1,573 km2, 1,153 km2 is ground and 419 km2 (26.67%) is water. Among California counties, only San Francisco is the smaller district level in size.

The county is situated on a wide coastline with over 29 mi of beaches. It is a strip of about 10 mi wide between the coast and the crest of the at the northern end of the Monterey Bay. It can be divided roughly into four regions: the rugged "north coast"; the urban City of Santa Cruz, California Soquel, Capitola, and Aptos; mountainous Bonny Doon, San Lorenzo River Valley; and the fertile "south county", including and. Agriculture is concentrated in the coastal lowlands of the county's northern and southern ends. Most of the coastline is flanked by cliffs.

Demographics
In the 2000, there were 255,602 people, 91,139 households, and 57,144 families residing in the county. The was 222 km2 of people, In 2000 there were 98,873 housing units at a density of 86 km2. The county demographics were 75.09% people, 0.97% of, 0.96% of , 3.44% of  people, 0.15% of , 15.02% of other races, and 4.37% of two or more races. 26.79% of the population was of or  origin of any race.

In the  the county's median income per capita was 67,070, and the median income for a family was of $83,217. In 2000 men had a per capita income of $46,291 versus $33,514 for women. The income for the county was $34,890. About 11.90% of the population was below the national.

Of the 15,437 households, 45.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 55.7% were married couples living together, 17.1% had a female householder with no husband present, 22.3% were non-families, and 19.0% of all households were made up of individuals. The average household size was 3.05 and the average family size was 3.51. The median age was 35.6 years.