Placer County, California in Encyclopedia

Placer County was home to the Maidu and Miwok Native Americans for hundreds of years. The discovery of gold in 1848 brought tens of thousands of miners from around the world, in addition to many more thousands intending to provide goods and services to the miners. Only three years after the discovery of gold, the fast-growing county was formed from portions of Sutter and Yuba counties on April 25, 1851 with Auburn as the county seat. Placer County took its name from the Spanish word for sand or gravel deposits containing gold. Miners washed away the gravel, leaving the heavier gold, in a process known as "placer mining."

Gold mining was a major industry through the 1880s, but gradually the new residents turned to farming the fertile foothill soil, harvesting timber and working for the Southern Pacific Railroad. Auburn was settled when Claude Chana discovered gold in Auburn Ravine in May 1848 and later became a shipping and supply center for the surrounding gold camps. The cornerstone of Placer's beautiful and historic courthouse, which is clearly visible from Interstate 80 through Auburn, was laid on July 4, 1894. The building itself was renovated during the late 1980s and continues to serve the public today with courtrooms, a historic sheriff's office and the Placer County Museum. Roseville, once a small agricultural center, became a major railroad center and grew to the county's most populous city after Southern Pacific Railroad moved its railroad switching yards there in 1908.

Loomis and Newcastle began as mining towns, but soon became centers of a booming fruit-growing industry, supporting many local packing houses. Penryn was founded by a Welsh miner, Griffith Griffith, who turned from mining to establish a large granite quarry. Rocklin began as a railroad town and became home to a number of granite quarries. Lincoln and Sheridan continue to support ranching and farming. Lincoln also is the home of one of the county's oldest businesses, the Gladding, McBean terra cotta clay manufacturing plant established in 1875.

Geography

According to the 2000 census, the county has a total area of , of which (or 93.45%) is land and (or 6.55%) is water.^[1] Watercourses in Placer County include the American River and Bunch Creek. Lake Tahoe has 40.96% of its surface area in Placer County, more than in any of the four other counties in which it lies.^[2]

Incorporated cities

Incorporated towns

Unincorporated places

Ghost towns

Adjacent counties

National protected areas

Transportation infrastructure

Major highways

Public transportation

Airports

Demographics

2010

Population reported at 2010 United States Census
The County	Total Population	White	African American	Native American	Asian	Pacific Islander	other races	two or more races	Hispanic or Latino (of any race)
Placer County	348,432	290,977	4,751	3,011	20,435	778	13,375	15,105	44,710
Incorporated cities and towns	Total Population	White	African American	Native American	Asian	Pacific Islander	other races	two or more races	Hispanic or Latino (of any race)
Auburn	13,330	11,863	100	129	240	9	405	584	1,331
Colfax	1,963	1,759	4	26	29	2	54	89	178
Lincoln	42,819	34,087	629	399	2,663	115	3,125	1,801	7,597
Loomis	6,430	5,733	33	74	169	12	149	260	568
Rocklin	56,974	47,047	858	410	4,105	150	1,538	2,866	6,555
Roseville	118,788	94,199	2,329	885	10,026	346	5,087	5,916	17,359
Census-designated places	Total Population	White	African American	Native American	Asian	Pacific Islander	other races	two or more races	Hispanic or Latino (of any race)
Alta	610	592	1	3	5	1	2	6	23
Carnelian Bay	524	493	1	4	14	0	1	11	13
Dollar Point	1,215	1,145	4	6	19	0	24	17	83
Dutch Flat	160	155	0	3	1	0	0	1	4
Foresthill	1,483	1,371	8	29	6	2	17	50	97
Granite Bay	20,402	17,960	148	138	1,152	28	222	754	1,260
Kings Beach	3,796	3,216	15	20	14	2	409	120	2,115
Kingvale	2	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Meadow Vista	3,217	3,017	1	21	35	6	34	103	171
Newcastle	1,224	1,113	7	19	17	0	35	33	104
North Auburn	13,022	11,081	115	172	298	13	893	450	2,108
Penryn	831	718	3	22	32	3	27	26	79
Sheridan	1,238	1,026	7	20	13	3	113	56	253
Sunnyside-Tahoe City	1,557	1,480	3	4	15	1	32	22	84
Tahoe Vista	1,433	1,279	3	8	21	2	82	38	352
Tahoma	411	393	4	3	7	0	1	3	16
Unincorporated communities	Total Population	White	African American	Native American	Asian	Pacific Islander	other races	two or more races	Hispanic or Latino (of any race)
All others not CDPs (combined)	57,003	51,248	478	616	1,554	83	1,125	1,899	4,360
Note: these numbers reflect only the portion of these CDPs in Placer County

2000

As of the census of 2000, there were 248,399 people, 93,382 households, and 67,701 families residing in the county. The population density was 177 people per square mile (68/km ). There were 107,302 housing units at an average density of 76 per square mile (30/km ). The racial makeup of the county was 88.6% White, 0.8% Black or African American, 0.9% Native American, 3.0% Asian, 0.2% Pacific Islander, 3.4% from other races, and 3.2% from two or more races. 9.7% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. 15.5% were of German, 12.3% English, 10.6% Irish, 7.1% Italian and 7.0% American ancestry according to Census 2000. 89.7% spoke only English at home; 6.0% spoke Spanish.

There were 93,382 households out of which 35.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 59.4% were married couples living together, 9.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 27.5% were non-families. 21.3% of all households were made up of individuals and 8.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.63 and the average family size was 3.06.

In the county the population was spread out with 26.5% under the age of 18, 6.9% from 18 to 24, 29.00% from 25 to 44, 24.5% from 45 to 64, and 13.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females there were 96.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 93.9 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $57,535, and the median income for a family was $65,858 (these figures had risen to $68,463 and $80,987 respectively as of a 2007 estimate^[4]). Males had a median income of $50,410 versus $33,763 for females. The per capita income for the county was $27,963. About 3.9% of families and 5.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 6.3% of those under age 18 and 3.8% of those age 65 or over.

Politics

**Presidential Election Results**
Year	GOP	DEM	Others
2008	54.5% 80,209	43.8% 64,460	1.7% 2,465
2004	62.6% 95,969	36.3% 55,573	1.1% 1,736
2000	59.3% 69,835	36.0% 42,449	4.7% 5,515
1996	52.8% 49,808	37.1% 34,981	10.2% 9,638
1992	41.9% 38,298	33.7% 30,783	24.4% 22,285
1988	59.6% 42,096	39.0% 27,516	1.5% 1,030
1984	62.9% 38,035	35.2% 21,294	1.8% 1,098
1980	54.8% 28,179	33.7% 17,311	11.6% 5,950
1976	45.0% 18,154	52.2% 21,026	2.8% 1,131
1972	50.3% 18,597	45.8% 16,911	3.9% 1,437
1968	42.6% 12,427	48.2% 14,050	9.2% 2,667
1964	33.9% 9,389	66.0% 18,256	0.1% 31
1960	43.8% 10,439	55.8% 13,304	0.5% 120

Placer County is a stronghold of the Republican Party; it consistently elects Republican public officials and has voted for presidential candidates from the party in every election since 1980.

Placer is part of California's 4th congressional district, which is held by Republican Tom McClintock. McClintock does not reside in the district, but in the 3rd congressional district, Elk Grove. While running for that office, his legal residence for his state senate seat was Thousand Oaks in Southern California. In the State Assembly, Placer is part of the 3rd, 4th, and 5th districts, which are held by Republican Dan Logue, Republican Beth Gaines and Democrat Richard Pan respectively. In the State Senate, Placer is mostly in the 1st district with parts in the 4th district. Both districts are held by Republicans, Ted Gaines and Doug LaMalfa respectively.

In 2004, current and former Placer County social workers reported that the county had an "unwritten policy" of homeless dumping, encouraging employees to send homeless individuals to neighboring jurisdictions namely facilities in Sacramento County. The story was initially reported in the Sacramento News & Review and corroborated in an independent story in the Sacramento Bee.^[5]^[6] Based on this and other instances of homeless dumping in Sacramento, California State Assembly Member Dave Jones introduced Assembly Bill 2745, prohibiting hospitals from sending a homeless person to a facility in another county without that facility's consent.^[7] The bill became law in 2006 when it was signed by Governor Schwarzenegger and included in Section 1262.4 of the California Health and Safety Code.^[8]^[9]

Economy

Top employers

According to the County's 2010 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report,^[10] the top employers in the county are: