Lassen County, California

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Lassen County, California
Map
Location in the state of California
California's location in the U.S.
Statistics
Founded	1864
Seat	Susanville
Area - Total - Land - Water	4,720 sq mi (12,225 km²) 4,557 sq mi (11,803 km²) 163 sq mi (422 km²), 3.46%
Population - (2000) - Density	33,828 7/sq mi (2.866/km²)
Website: www.co.lassen.ca.us

Lassen County is a county located in the northeastern portion of the U.S. state of California. As of 2000 the population was 33,828. The county seat is Susanville, the only incorporated city in the county.

1 History
2 Geography
- 2.1 Cities and towns
- 2.2 Adjacent counties
3 Transportation Infrastructure
4 Demographics
5 Politics
6 References
7 External links

[edit] History

Lassen County was formed in 1864 from parts of Plumas and Shasta Counties. Due to uncertainties over the California border, what is now Lassen County was part of the unofficial Nataqua Territory and Roop County, Nevada during the late 1850s and early 1860s.

The county's name was derived from Mount Lassen, which is actually in neighboring Shasta County. Mount Lassen was named for Peter Lassen, one of General John C. Fremont's guides and a famous trapper, frontiersman and Indian fighter. He was murdered under mysterious circumstances near the Black Rock Desert in 1859.

[edit] Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 4,720 square miles (12,226 km²), of which, 4,557 square miles (11,803 km²) of it is land and 163 square miles (422 km²) of it (3.46%) is water. Part of Lassen Volcanic National Park extends onto a western corner of the county.

[edit] Cities and towns

[edit] Adjacent counties

[edit] Transportation Infrastructure

[edit] Major highways

[edit] Public Transportation

Lassen Rural Bus (LRB) runs a local service in Susanville, and longer distance routes to Westwood and Doyle.

[edit] Airports

Susanville Municipal Airport, Herlong Airport and Westwood Airport are all general aviation airports.

[edit] Demographics

As of the census^[1] of 2000, there were 33,828 people, 9,625 households, and 6,776 families residing in the county. The population density was 7 people per square mile (3/km²). There were 12,000 housing units at an average density of 3 per square mile (1/km²). The racial makeup of the county was 80.81% White, 8.84% Black or African American, 3.26% Native American, 0.74% Asian, 0.43% Pacific Islander, 3.23% from other races, and 2.69% from two or more races. 13.84% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. 13.8% were of German, 12.1% Irish, 10.5% English, 8.7% American and 5.0% Italian ancestry according to Census 2000. 88.2% spoke English and 10.3% Spanish as their first language.

There were 9,625 households out of which 35.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 55.8% were married couples living together, 10.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 29.6% were non-families. 24.5% of all households were made up of individuals and 9.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.59 and the average family size was 3.08.

In the county the population was spread out with 21.8% under the age of 18, 10.8% from 18 to 24, 36.9% from 25 to 44, 21.4% from 45 to 64, and 9.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35 years. For every 100 females there were 168.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 192.2 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $36,310, and the median income for a family was $43,398. Males had a median income of $37,333 versus $26,561 for females. The per capita income for the county was $14,749. About 11.1% of families and 14.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 16.1% of those under age 18 and 7.8% of those age 65 or over.

[edit] Politics

**Presidential election results**
Year	GOP	DEM	Others
2004	71.0% 8,126	27.6% 3,158	1.4% 166
2000	66.9% 7,080	28.2% 2,982	4.9% 524
1996	52.6% 5,194	33.6% 3,318	13.8% 1,363
1992	37.0% 3,836	32.7% 3,388	30.3% 3,138
1988	58.6% 5,157	39.1% 3,446	2.3% 199
1984	61.1% 5,352	37.1% 3,254	1.8% 155
1980	54.4% 4,464	35.9% 2,941	9.7% 793
1976	43.0% 3,007	54.3% 3,801	2.7% 190
1972	50.8% 3,618	44.0% 3,134	5.2% 370
1968	41.1% 2,553	47.1% 2,930	11.8% 735
1964	34.3% 2,124	65.7% 4,072	0.1% 5
1960	40.2% 2,365	59.1% 3,472	0.7% 40

Lassen is a strongly Republican county in Presidential and congressional elections. The last Democrat to win a majority in the county was Jimmy Carter in 1976.

Lassen is part of California's California's 4th congressional district, which is held by Republican John Doolittle. In the state legislature, Lassen is part of the 2nd Assembly district, which is held by Republican Doug LaMalfa, and the 4th Senate district, which is held by Republican Sam Aanestad.