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Alameda, Alpine, Amador, Butte, Calaveras, Colusa, Contra Costa, Del Norte, El Dorado, Fresno, Glenn, Humboldt, Imperial, Inyo, Kern, Kings, Lake, Lassen, Los Angeles, Madera, Marin, Mariposa, Mendocino, Merced, Modoc, Mono, Monterey, Napa, Nevada, Orange, Placer, Plumas, Riverside, Sacramento, San Benito, San Bernardino, San Diego, San Francisco, San Joaquin, San Luis Obispo, San Mateo, Santa Barbara, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Shasta, Sierra, Siskiyou, Solano, Sonoma, Stanislaus, Sutter, Tehama, Trinity, Tulare, Tuolumne, Ventura, Yolo, Yuba

California Counties

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California Counties

The U.S. state of California is divided into fifty-eight counties. On January 4, 1850, the California constitutional committee recommended the formation of 18 counties. They were Benicia, Butte, Fremont, Los Angeles, Mariposa, Monterey, Mount Diablo, Oro, Redding, Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco, San Joaquin, San Jose, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Sonoma, and Sutter. On April 22, the Counties of Branciforte, Calaveras, Coloma, Colusi, Marin, Mendocino, Napa, Trinity, and Yuba were added. Benicia was renamed Solano, Coloma to El Dorado, Fremont to Yola, Mt. Diablo to Contra Costa, San Jose to Santa Clara, Oro to Tuolumne, and Redding to Shasta. One of the first state legislative acts regarding Counties was to rename Branciforte County to Santa Cruz, Colusi to Colusa, and Yola to Yolo.

The last California county to have been established is Imperial County in 1907.

San Diego County, California

San Diego County History, Geography, Demographics, Cities and Towns, and Education

1600 Pacific Highway, Room 209
County Administration Center
San Diego, CA 92101-2429

Court House:

County Seat: San Diego
Year Organized: 1850
Square Miles: 4,204

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Named after San Diego Bay, which had been rechristened by Vizcaino in 1602, in honor of the Franciscan, San Diego de Alcala de Henares, whose name was borne by his flagship.

Demographics:

County QuickFacts:

Census Bureau Quick Facts

County History

San Diego County was one of the original counties of California, and was created at the time of statehood in 1850. It was named after San Diego Bay, which had been rechristened in 1602 by Sebastián Vizcaíno in honor of the Franciscan St. Didacus of Alcalá, known in Spanish as San Diego de Alcalá de Henares, and whose name was borne by Vizcaíno's flagship

As originally created in 1850 San Diego County was quite large and included most of southeastern California south and east of Los Angeles County. As such it included major parts of what are now Inyo, San Bernardino, Riverside, and Imperial counties.

The later part of the 19th century witnessed numerous realignments of county boundaries. The most recent changes were the creation of Riverside County, in 1893, and Imperial County, in 1907

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 4,526 sq mi (11,721 km²). 4,200 sq mi (10,878 km²) of it is land and 326 sq mi (843 km²) of it (7.20%) is water.

San Diego County has varied topography. On its western side is seventy miles of coastline. Snow-capped mountains rise to the northeast, with the Sonoran Desert to the far east. Cleveland National Forest is spread across the central portion of the county, while Anza-Borrego Desert State Park occupies most of the northeast.

North San Diego County is known locally as "North County"; the exact geographic definitions of "North County" vary, but it includes the northern suburbs and sometimes certain northern neighborhoods of the city of San Diego.

The eastern suburbs are collectively known as "East County", though most still lie in the western third of the county. The southern suburbs and southern detached portion of the City of San Diego, extending to the Mexican border, is collectively referred to as "South Bay".

Neighboring Counties:

North: Riverside County
East: Imperial County
South: Baja California
West: North Pacific Ocean
Northwest: Orange County

Cities and Towns:

- Carlsbad	city	Incorporated Area
- Chula Vista	city	Incorporated Area
- Coronado	city	Incorporated Area
- Del Mar	city	Incorporated Area
- El Cajon	city	Incorporated Area
- Encinitas	city	Incorporated Area
- Escondido	city	Incorporated Area
- Imperial Beach	city	Incorporated Area
- La Mesa	city	Incorporated Area
- Lemon Grove	city	Incorporated Area
- National City	city	Incorporated Area
- Oceanside	city	Incorporated Area
- Poway	city	Incorporated Area
- San Diego (County Seat)	city	Incorporated Area
- San Marcos	city	Incorporated Area
- Santee	city	Incorporated Area
- Solana Beach	city	Incorporated Area
- Vista	city	Incorporated Area

County Resources:

Enter County Resources and Information Here

County Resources

The history of our nation was a prolonged struggle to define the relative roles and powers of our governments: federal, state, and local. And the names given the counties, our most locally based jurisdictions, reflects the "characteristic features of this country!"

But age, size and colorful names of our counties isn't the only reason to explore counties' role in American history, or the history of county government itself. In fact, the story of county government reflects the larger meanings of American history.

Today's counties are the most flexible, locally responsive and creative governments in the US. They are the most diverse, varying in size, population, geography, and governmental structure. In their politics and policies, they express a 1990's political slogan "Think globally, act locally."