Kings County, California

County of Kings
—  County  —
Seal
Location in the state of California
California's location in the United States
Country	United States
State	California
Region	San Joaquin Valley
Metro area	Hanford-Corcoran
Incorporated	1893
County seat	Hanford
Largest city	Hanford
Area
– Total	1,391.49 sq mi (3,603.9 km2)
– Land	1,390.99 sq mi (3,602.6 km2)
– Water	0.50 sq mi (1.3 km2)
Population (2011)
– Total	153,365
– Density	110.2/sq mi (42.6/km2)
Time zone	Pacific Standard Time (UTC-8)
– Summer (DST)	Pacific Daylight Time (UTC-7)
Website	countyofkings.com

Kings County is a county located in the Central Valley of the U.S. state of California. It is located in a rich agricultural region. Kings County is also home to NAS Lemoore, which is the U.S. Navy's newest and largest master jet air station. The county seat is Hanford. The United States Census Bureau defines Kings County as encompassing the entire Hanford–Corcoran Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA Code 25260). The population was 152,982 at the time of the 2010 U.S. Census. According to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, the county's population included 18,640 state prison inmates as of March 31, 2010.^[1] The California Department of Finance estimated that Kings County's population was 153,365 as of January 1, 2011.^[2]

History

The area was inhabited for thousands of years by indigenous peoples. It was colonized by Spain, Mexico and the United States.

An 1805 expedition probably led by Spanish Army Lieutenant Gabriel Moraga recorded discovering the river, which they named El Rio de los Santos Reyes (River of the Holy Kings) after the Three Wise Men of the Bible.^[3] At the time of the United States conquest in 1848, the new government changed the name to Kings River.^[3]

In 1880, a dispute over land titles between settlers and the Southern Pacific Railroad resulted in a bloody gun battle on a farm 5.6 mi (9.0 km) northwest of Hanford; seven men died. This event became known as the Mussel Slough Tragedy.

Kings County was formed in 1893 from the western part of Tulare County.^[3] In 1909, by an act of the state legislature, 208 square miles (540 km²) of Fresno County territory was added to the northwest portion of Kings County.^[4]

Settlers reclaimed Tulare Lake and its wetlands for agricultural development. In surface area, it was formerly the largest body of freshwater west of the Great Lakes, and supported a large population of migratory birds as well as local birds and wildlife. Monoculture has sharply reduced habitat for many species.

In 1928, oil was discovered in the Kettleman Hills located in the southwestern part of Kings County. The Kettleman North Dome Oil Field became one of the most productive oil fields in the United States.^[5]

In 1933 during the Great Depression, cotton pickers in the southern San Joaquin Valley, mostly migrant Mexican workers, went on strike. During the strike, 3,500 striking farm workers lived in a four-acre camp on the land of a small farmer on the outskirts of Corcoran. Ultimately, the federal government intervened to force both sides to negotiate a settlement.^[6]

Lemoore Army Airfield was established for training and defense during World War II. In 1961, the U.S. Navy opened NAS Lemoore 9 miles (14 km) west of Lemoore, not far from the earlier site.

The completion of the California Aqueduct in the early 1970s brought needed water for agriculture and domestic use to the westside of the county.

Historic sites

• Kingston
• Mussel Slough Tragedy
• El Adobe de los Robles Rancho built by Daniel Rhoads

Geography

According to the 2000 census, the county has a total area of 1,391.49 square miles (3,603.9 km²), of which 1,390.99 square miles (3,602.6 km²) (or 99.96%) is land and 0.50 square miles (1.3 km²) (or 0.04%) is water.^[7]

Kings County is bordered on the north and northwest by Fresno County, on the east by Tulare County, on the south by Kern County and a small part of San Luis Obispo County and on the west by Monterey County.

Most of the historic Tulare Lake was within Kings County. Although reclaimed for farming late in the 19th century, it was the largest freshwater lake west of the Great Lakes.

Cities and towns

• Armona
• Avenal
• Corcoran
• Hanford
• Home Garden
• Kettleman City
• Lemoore
• Lemoore Station
• Stratford

Rural communities

• Grangeville
• Guernsey
• Halls Corner
• Hardwick
• Hub
• Island District
• Lakeside

Proposed new city

• Quay Valley Ranch

Indian reservation

• Santa Rosa Rancheria

Adjacent counties

• Kern County, California - south
• Tulare County, California - east
• Fresno County, California - north, northwest
• Monterey County, California - west
• San Luis Obispo County, California - southwest

Transportation infrastructure

Major highways

• Interstate 5
• State Route 33
• State Route 41
• State Route 43
• State Route 198
• State Route 269

Public transportation

Kings Area Rural Transit (KART) operates regularly scheduled fixed route bus service, vanpool service for commuters and Dial-A-Ride (demand response) services throughout Kings County as well as to Fresno.^[8]

Amtrak trains stop in Corcoran and Hanford.

Orange Belt Stages provides inter-city bus service to and from Hanford. Connections with Greyhound can be made in Visalia or Paso Robles.

Airports

Hanford Municipal Airport is a general aviation airport located just southeast of Hanford. The privately-owned airport in Avenal is the home of the Central California Soaring Club.^[9]

Economy

The economy is based on agriculture. Other important employers include NAS Lemoore, the U.S. Navy's largest master jet base and the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation which operates three state prisons in Kings County.

At the time of the 2000 census, the median income for a household in the county was $35,749, and the median income for a family was $38,111. Males had a median income of $31,700 versus $24,772 for females. The per capita income for the county in 2000 was $15,848. By 2009, according to the U.S Bureau of Economic Analysis, average per capita income had reached $30,646 in Kings County compared with $42,395 in California as a whole.^[10] The 2000 census reported that about 15.8% of families and 19.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 25.9% of those under age 18 and 8.8% of those age 65 or over. In 2003, Kings County had the lowest per capita income in the state of California.^[11]

The homeownership rate was 54.2% at the time of the 2010 census.^[12]

Taxable sales in 2007 totaled $1.33 billion.^[13]

Kings County has not escaped the effects of the late 2000s recession. The unemployment rate in October 2011 was 14.6%, up from 10.1% in July 2008.^[14] According to the California Employment Development Department, as of January 2011, civilian employment totaled 49,200 and an additional 11,000 people were unemployed. Many residents of Kings County were employed in services (30,100 persons, including 14,600 government employees) and agriculture (5,700 employees) as well as in some manufacturing enterprises (3,400 employees) and construction (800 employees).[^[15] Median household income fell over 8% from an estimated $48,419 in 2007 to $44,506 in 2009 according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey. Jeffrey Michael, director of the Business Forecasting Center at the University of the Pacific, stated in an October 2010 newspaper interview that nearly half of Kings County's personal earnings come from government jobs, which pay more than agricultural employment. From 2007 to 2009, government jobs held steady while the county's agricultural sector took the biggest hit. Kings County's dairy industry dropped from $670 million in milk sold in 2008 to $411 million in 2009 - a 39% drop.^[16] By mid-2009, the price paid to milk producers had dropped to a point that was far below the cost of production according to a July 2009 quote from Bill Van Dam, CEO of the Alliance of Western Milk Producers.^[17] By December 2010, milk prices had increased to about $13 per hundredweight from a low of below $10 in 2009. However, the price of corn used for feed had increased because of its use by the ethanol industry. Van Dam was quoted that month as saying that at current prices, dairy operators are at or close to the break-even point.^[18]

Politics

Kings County vote
by party in presidential elections

Year	GOP	DEM	Others
2008	56.2% 19,710	42.1% 14,747	1.8% 618
2004	65.4% 21,003	33.7% 10,833	0.9% 274
2000	57.8% 16,377	39.0% 11,041	3.2% 917
1996	47.9% 12,368	43.6% 11,254	8.5% 2,193
1992	41.6% 10,673	38.9% 9,982	19.5% 4,996
1988	56.4% 12,118	42.6% 9,142	1.0% 222
1984	64.1% 13,364	35.1% 7,324	0.8% 160
1980	55.4% 10,531	38.4% 7,299	6.3% 1,191
1976	49.7% 8,263	48.4% 8,061	1.9% 318
1972	56.5% 10,509	39.1% 7,274	4.4% 812
1968	43.1% 7,796	47.8% 8,643	9.2% 1,662
1964	30.5% 5,753	69.4% 13,073	0.1% 14
1960	42.3% 6,991	57.1% 9,439	0.6% 92
1956	42.3% 6,195	57.5% 8,417	0.3% 40
1952	49.2% 7,708	50.1% 7,850	0.7% 113
1948	37.2% 4,289	60.0% 6,909	2.8% 323
1944	34.2% 3,468	65.0% 6,591	0.7% 75
1940	31.8% 3,911	67.4% 8,307	0.8% 102
1936	23.7% 2,226	75.1% 7,062	1.2% 116
1932	26.7% 2,009	69.1% 5,191	4.2% 318
1928	51.5% 2,947	47.2% 2,701	1.3% 73
1924	50.0% 2,812	19.7% 1,109	30.3% 1,693
1920	59.6% 2,806	34.1% 1,604	6.3% 297

In January 2008, the Kings County Clerk reported that of 45,444 registered voters, 21,685 were Republicans and 16,664 were Democrats.^[19]

Kings has long been a strongly Republican county in Presidential elections. The last Democratic candidate for President to win the county was Hubert Humphrey in 1968.

Kings County is part of California's California's 20th congressional district, which is held by Democrat Jim Costa. The county is represented in the California State Senate by Democrat Michael Rubio and in the California State Assembly by Republican David Valadao.

On Nov. 4, 2008 Kings County voted 73.7 % for Proposition 8 which amended the California Constitution to ban same-sex marriages.

Demographics

Historical populations
Census	Pop.		%±
1900	9,871		—
1910	16,230		64.4%
1920	22,031		35.7%
1930	25,385		15.2%
1940	35,168		38.5%
1950	46,768		33.0%
1960	49,954		6.8%
1970	64,610		29.3%
1980	73,738		14.1%
1990	101,469		37.6%
2000	129,461		27.6%
2010	152,982		18.2%
[20][21][22]

2010

The 2010 United States Census reported that Kings County had a population of 152,982. The racial makeup of Kings County was 83,027 (54.3%) White, 11,014 (7.2%) African American, 2,562 (1.7%) Native American, 5,620 (3.7%) Asian, 271 (0.2%) Pacific Islander, 42,996 (28.1%) from other races, and 7,492 (4.9%) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 77,866 persons (50.9%).^[23]

The U.S. Census does not identify how many residents are illegal immigrants. However, the Public Policy Institute of California issued a report in July 2011, which estimated there were 9,000 unauthorized immigrants living in Kings County in 2008, which would be 5.8% of the county’s population.^[24]

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)
Kings County	152,982	83,027	11,014	2,562	5,620	271	42,996	7,492	77,866
Incorporated city	Total Population	White	African American	Native American	Asian	Pacific Islander	other races	two or more races	Hispanic or Latino (of any race)
Avenal	15,505	6,044	1,625	186	108	6	7,188	348	11,130
Corcoran	24,813	8,940	3,725	349	193	17	10,979	610	15,545
Hanford	53,967	33,713	2,632	712	2,322	53	11,599	2,936	25,419
Lemoore	24,531	13,925	1,566	333	2,010	102	4,935	1,660	9,820
Census-designated place	Total Population	White	African American	Native American	Asian	Pacific Islander	other races	two or more races	Hispanic or Latino (of any race)
Armona	4,156	2,058	99	64	85	13	1,597	240	2,784
Grangeville	469	393	15	5	5	0	41	10	145
Hardwick	138	63	5	0	0	0	67	3	86
Home Garden	1,761	652	221	63	50	8	677	90	1,189
Kettleman City	1,439	478	4	8	1	0	887	61	1,383
Lemoore Station	7,438	4,883	729	70	560	53	418	725	1,445
Stratford	1,277	574	16	17	19	1	617	33	1,069
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)	17,488	11,304	377	755	267	18	3,991	776	7,851

2000

As of the 2000 census, there were 129,461 people, 34,418 households, and 26,983 families residing in the county. However, the California Department of Finance estimates that the population had grown 154,434 as of January 1, 2008.^[25] The population density based on the 2000 census was 36/km² (93/sq mi). There were 36,563 housing units at an average density of 26 per square mile (10/km²). The racial makeup of the county was 53.68% White, 8.30% Black or African American, 1.68% Native American, 3.07% Asian, 0.19% Pacific Islander, 28.28% from other races, and 4.79% from two or more races. 43.61% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. 7.1% were of Portuguese, 6.2% German, 5.3% Irish and 5.1% American ancestry according to Census 2000. 63.6% spoke English, 30.9% Spanish, 1.4% Tagalog, 1.4% Portuguese and 1.3% Samoan as their first language.

There were 34,418 households out of which 46.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 58.0% were married couples living together, 14.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 21.6% were non-families. 17.0% of all households were made up of individuals and 6.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.18 and the average family size was 3.56.

In the county the population was spread out with 29.0% under the age of 18, 11.8% from 18 to 24, 35.0% from 25 to 44, 16.8% from 45 to 64, and 7.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 30 years in 2000, which had increased to 31.1 by the time of the 2010 census.^[26] For every 100 females there were 134.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 148.8 males. The ratio may be attributed to the presence of three men's state prisons in the county.

Culture

Kings County has a large annual celebraton held each May called Kings County Homecoming Week.^[27]

Government

Kings County is a general law county under the California Constitution. That is, it does not have a county charter. The county is governed by a five-member Board of Supervisors. Supervisors are elected by districts for four-year terms. There are no term limits in effect. The Chairman and Vice-Chairman are elected annually by the Board of Supervisors from among its members. On January 3, 2011, the Board elected Supervisor Tony Barba as Chairman and Supervisor Richard Fagundes as Vice-Chairman to serve during 2011. Other Supervisors include Doug Verboon, Richard Valle and Joe Neves.^[28]

The Board of Supervisors appoints a County Administrative Officer. Currently, that office is held by Larry Spikes.^[29]

See also

• California census statistical areas
• National Register of Historic Places listings in Kings County, California

References

1. ^ http://www.cdcr.ca.gov/Reports_Research/Offender_Information_Services_Branch/Monthly/Monthly_Tpop1a_Archive.html accessed November 20, 2011
2. ^ http://www.dof.ca.gov/research/demographic/reports/estimates/e-1/view.php accessed November 20, 2011
3. ^ ^{a b c} Hoover, p. 132
4. ^ Brown, Robert L. (1940). History of Kings County. A. H. Cawston. p. 53. 
5. ^ Brown, Robert L. (1940). History of Kings County. A. H. Cawston. p. 123. 
6. ^ Weber, Devra (1994). Dark Sweat. White Gold: California Farm Workers, Cotton and the New Deal. Berkeley and Los Angeles, California: University of California Press. pp. 79–111. ISBN 0-520-20710-6. 
7. ^ "Census 2000 U.S. Gazetteer Files: Counties". United States Census. http://www.census.gov/tiger/tms/gazetteer/county2k.txt. Retrieved 2011-02-13. 
8. ^ http://www.mykartbus.com/ accessed 5-9-10
9. ^ http://www.soaravenal.com/ accessed 1-13-08
10. ^ Fresno Bee, May 15, 2011
11. ^ US Department of Commerce Study, 2003
12. ^ Fresno Bee, May 15, 2011
13. ^ http://www.labormarketinfo.edd.ca.gov/ accessed 7-18-09
14. ^ http://www.labormarketinfo.edd.ca.gov/?pageid=133 accessed November 20, 2011
15. ^ http://www.calmis.ca.gov/file/lfmonth/hanf$pds.pdf accessed April 10, 2011
16. ^ Hanford Sentinel, October 2–3, 2010
17. ^ Hanford Sentinel, July 11, 2009
18. ^ Hanford Sentinel, December 18, 2010
19. ^ Hanford Sentinel, January 13, 2008
20. ^ http://www.census.gov/population/www/censusdata/cencounts/files/ca190090.txt
21. ^ http://factfinder2.census.gov
22. ^ http://mapserver.lib.virginia.edu/
23. ^ "2010 Census P.L. 94-171 Summary File Data". United States Census Bureau. http://www2.census.gov/census_2010/01-Redistricting_File--PL_94-171/California/. 
24. ^ http://www.ppic.org/main/publication.asp?i=986 accessed July 30, 2011
25. ^ California Department of Finance, Table E-2, California County Population Estimates and Percent Change, Revised July 1, 2000 through Provisional July 1, 2006
26. ^ Fresno Bee, May 15, 2011
27. ^ accessed 5-9-10
28. ^ [1] accessed 1-7-11
29. ^ http://www.countyofkings.com/admin/index.htm accessed 1-13-08

• Hoover, Mildred Brooke; Douglas E. Kyle (1990). Historic Spots in California. Stanford University Press. ISBN 9780804717342. http://books.google.com/books?id=p2WrAAAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover. 

External links

• Kings County website
• 2010 Kings County Crop Report
• Kings County Community Health Status Report, 2008-2009
• Kings County history website operated by the Kings County Office of Education
• Kings County Economic Development Corporation website
• Kings Classifieds - Free Online Classifieds for Kings County, California

Coordinates: 36°04′N 119°49′W / 36.07°N 119.81°W / 36.07; -119.81