Marin County, California
Encyclopedia : M : MA : MAR : Marin County, California
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Seal |} |- class="hiddenStructure" style="font-size: smaller; text-align: center;" | colspan="2" | Official website: http://www.co.marin.ca.us/ |- class="hiddenStructure" ! colspan="2" style="background-color: #e0e0e0; text-align: center;" | Location |- class="hiddenStructure" | align="center" colspan="2" style="font-size: smaller;" | |- ! colspan="2" style="background-color: #e0e0e0; text-align: center;" | Government |- ! Country State | United States California |- ! Board of Supervisors District One District Two District Three District Four District Five | Susan Adams Harold Brown Charles McGlashan Steve Kinsey Cynthia Murray |- class="hiddenStructure" ! Formed | March 11, 1889 |- class="hiddenStructure" ! County seat | San Rafael |- ! colspan="2" style="background-color: #e0e0e0; text-align: center;" | Geographical characteristics |- ! Area | style="white-space: nowrap;" | 2,145 km² |- style="text-indent: 1em;" ! Land | style="white-space: nowrap;" | 1,346 km² |- style="text-indent: 1em;" ! Water | style="white-space: nowrap;" | 799 km² |- ! Population | class="hiddenStructure" | |- style="text-indent: 1em;" ! style="white-space: nowrap;" | Total (2000) | 247,289 |- style="text-indent: 1em; white-space: nowrap;" ! Density | 184/km² |- class="hiddenStructure" ! Latitude | |- class="hiddenStructure" ! Longitude | |- ! Time zone | Pacific (UTC−8) |- class="hiddenStructure" style="text-indent: 1em;" ! Summer (DST) | Pacific (UTC−7) |- | colspan="2" | |} Marin County is a county located in the North San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco. As of 2000, the population was 247,289. The county seat is San Rafael. Marin County is world-renowned for its stunning natural beauty, liberal politics and pockets of extreme affluence. San Quentin Prison is located in the county, as is Skywalker Ranch. Autodesk, the publisher of AutoCAD, is located there, as are numerous other high-tech companies. The headquarters of film and media company Lucasfilm Ltd. has moved to the Presidio of San Francisco. United States Senator Barbara Boxer is from Marin. The Marin County Civic Center was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and draws thousands of visitors a year to guided tours of its arch and atrium design. Marin County's many beautiful natural sites include the famous Muir Woods redwood forest, Stinson Beach, Point Reyes National Seashore, and Mount Tamalpais, the birthplace of mountain biking.
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HistoryMarin County was one of the original counties of California, created in 1850 at the time of statehood.The origin of the county's name is not clear. One version is the county was named for Chief Marin, of the Licatiut tribe of Native Americans who inhabited that section and waged fierce battle against the early Spanish military explorers. The other version is that the bay between San Pedro and San Quentin points was named Bahia de Nuestra Senora del Rosario la Marinera in 1775, and it is quite possible that Marin is simply an abbreviation of this name. GeographyAccording to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 2,145 km² (828 mi²). 1,346 km² (520 mi²) of it is land and 799 km² (308 mi²) of it (37.24%) is water.Geographically, the county forms a large, southward-facing peninsula, with the Pacific Ocean to the west, San Pablo Bay and San Francisco Bay to the east, and -- across the Golden Gate -- the city of San Francisco to the south. Marin County's northern border is with Sonoma County. Most of the county's population resides on the eastern side, with a string of communities running along the Bay, from Sausalito to Tiburon to Corte Madera to San Rafael. The interior contains large areas of agricultural and open space; West Marin, through which California State Route 1 runs alongside the California coast, contains many small unincorporated communities dependent on agriculture and tourism for their economies. Adjacent Counties
DemographicsAs of the census² of 2000, there were 247,289 people, 100,650 households, and 60,691 families residing in the county. The population density was 184/km² (476/mi²). There were 104,990 housing units at an average density of 78/km² (202/mi²). The racial makeup of the county was 84.03% White, 2.89% Black or African American, 0.43% Native American, 4.53% Asian, 0.16% Pacific Islander, 4.50% from other races, and 3.47% from two or more races. 11.06% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.There were 100,650 households out of which 27.50% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 48.40% were married couples living together, 8.50% had a female householder with no husband present, and 39.70% were non-families. 29.80% of all households were made up of individuals and 9.60% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.34 and the average family size was 2.90. In the county the population was spread out with 20.30% under the age of 18, 5.50% from 18 to 24, 31.00% from 25 to 44, 29.70% from 45 to 64, and 13.50% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 41 years. For every 100 females there were 98.20 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 96.40 males. The median income for a household in the county was $71,306, and the median income for a family was $88,934. Males had a median income of $61,282 versus $45,448 for females. The per capita income for the county was $44,962. About 3.70% of families and 6.60% of the population were below the poverty line, including 6.90% of those under age 18 and 4.50% of those age 65 or over. Marin County has the highest per capita income of any county in the United States. This is driven in particular by expensive enclaves in Belvedere, Kentfield, Ross, Tiburon, Mill Valley, Sausalito, San Anselmo and portions of San Rafael and Novato. The traditionally middle class towns of Corte Madera, Fairfax, Novato and San Rafael (where per capita incomes typically paralleled the California state average as late as 1985) also have experienced especially sharp rises in real estate values, due in part to their proximity to the "prestige" address areas. The county's resistance to urban sprawl and its preservation of open space have also had an upward impact on housing prices by reducing the number of new subdivisions built in the area since 1970. As a result of these factors, many lower-income middle class families have moved, often to Sonoma County, California, for cheaper housing. Against this backdrop two neighborhoods in particular are populated almost exclusively by low-income persons of color as opposed to the surrounding population of Marin, which is largely Caucasian and more affluent: Marin City (which shares a zip code with Sausalito) and the Canal Neighborhood in San Rafael.
Notable current and former residents
Presidential elections results
Cities, Towns and Unincorporated Districts
In books and filmsMarin County lifestyles of the 1970s were spoofed in the 1977 novel by Cyra McFadden, and in the subsequent film Serial (1980 film) which was based on the novel. Marin County's reputation as a counterculture enclave, especially the town of Bolinas and its isolationist reputation, made it a location of many key events in the 1981 novel Ecotopia Emerging by Ernest Callenbach. See also
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