Citrus County, Florida

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Citrus County, Florida
Seal of Citrus County, Florida
Map
Map of Florida highlighting Citrus County
Location in the state of Florida
Map of the U.S. highlighting Florida
Florida's location in the U.S.
Statistics
Founded 2 June 1887
Seat Inverness
Area
 - Total
 - Land
 - Water
773 sq mi (2,002 km²)

189 sq mi (490 km²), 24.49%
Population
 - (2000)
 - Density
118,085
202/sq mi (78/km²)
Website: www.bocc.citrus.fl.us

Citrus County is a county located in the U.S. state of Florida. As of 2000, the population was 118,085. The U.S. Census Bureau 2006 estimate for the county is 138,143 [1]. Its county seat is Inverness, Florida[1]. More than 90% of the population of Citrus County live outside the two incorporated cities of Inverness and Crystal River.

Contents

[edit] History

Citrus County was created in 1887. The Citrus County area was formerly part of a Hernando County. It was named for the county's citrus trees. Citrus production declined dramatically after the "Big Freeze" of 1894-1895. Today, citrus is grown on one large grove, Bellamy Grove. Additionally, some people do have trees on their personal property.

Phosphate mining also played a major part in the history of the County until the end of WWII in which phosphate mining was largely moved overseas. The first newspaper of Citrus County was called the Phosphate Times.

In the 1980s Citrus County began to develop and housing developments such as Beverly Hills started to dominate the county.

[edit] Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 773.15 square miles (2,002 km²), of which, 584 square miles (1,512 km²) of it is land and 189 square miles (490 km²) of it (24.49%) is water.

[edit] Demographics

As of the census[2] of 2000, there were 118,085 people, 62,204 households, and 25,350 families residing in the county. The population density was 3,051.2 persons per square mile (1,177.3/km²). There were 9,359 housing units at an average density of 1,365.1 houses per square mile (526.8/km²). The racial makeup of the county was 95.0% White, 2.4% African American, 0.4% Native American, 0.8% Asian, 0.0% Pacific Islander, 0.4% from other races, and 0.4% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.7% of the population.

There were 62,204 households out of which 21.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 46.9% were married couples living together, 20.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 48.3% were non-families. 28.9% of all households were made up of individuals and 18.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.20 and the average family size was 2.60.

In the county the population was spread out with 17.2% under the age of 18, 4.6% from 18 to 24, 19.1% from 25 to 44, 26.9% from 45 to 64, and 32.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 52.6 years. For every 100 females there were 91.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 87.2 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $44,508, and the median income for a family was $56,809. Males had a median income of $38,384 versus $32,107 for females. The per capita income for the city was $26,515. About 5.4% of families and 7.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 5.8% of those under age 18 and 8.9% of those age 65 or over.

[edit] Adjacent Counties

[edit] Cities and towns

[edit] Incorporated

[edit] Unincorporated

[edit] Politics

Citrus County leans slightly Republican in national, state and local races, electing a mix of some local Conservative Democrats and Republicans, while generally voting Republican in presidential elections.

Presidential elections results
Year Republican Democratic Other
2004 56.9% 42.1% 1.0%
2000 52.1% 44.6% 3.3%
1996 40.6% 44.4% 15.0%
1992 36.7% 35.6% 27.9%
1988 63.0% 36.4% 0.7%

[edit] Attractions

Private Cabin On Sportsmen's Island: Citrus County, FL
Private Cabin On Sportsmen's Island: Citrus County, FL

Citrus County's most significant tourist draw is that it is the only place in the United States where one can legally interact and swim with the West Indian manatee.[citation needed] This threatened species makes Citrus County's spring-fed rivers its wintering home. According to the US Fish & Wildlife Services' Aerial Manatee Surveys, as many as 400 of these playful creatures can be found in Citrus County at one time.

Citrus County also has within its territorial boundaries a number of uninhabited and/or sparsely inhabited coastal islands that can be accessed via watercraft. [3] While some of the Citrus County islands are state lands thus available for public use for recreational opportunities, many other Citrus County islands are private property and are either wholly or partially owned by private parties. [4] A number of the interior islands have private vacation homes and cabins situated along the waterfront.

Citrus County also has one local TV Station, WYKE-LP.

[edit] Reference

  1. ^ Find a County. National Association of Counties. Retrieved on 2008-01-31.
  2. ^ American FactFinder. United States Census Bureau. Retrieved on 2008-01-31.
  3. ^ http://www.baynews9.com/images/hurricane/CitrusEvac.jpg
  4. ^ http://gis.pa.citrus.fl.us/website/ccpa%5Fapp/viewer.htm?Title=ArcIMS%20HTML%20Viewer

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

[edit] Government links/Constitutional offices

[edit] Special districts

[edit] Judicial branch

[edit] Tourism links

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Citrus County, Florida
County seat: Inverness
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Coordinates: 28°51′N 82°31′W / 28.85, -82.52