Yolo County, California

Etymology

In the original act of 1850, the name was spelled "Yola". Yolo is a Patwin Native American name variously believed to be a corruption of a tribal name, Yo-loy, meaning "a place abounding in rushes", the village of Yodoi, believed to be in the vicinity of Knights Landing, California, or the name of the chief of said village, Yodo.

History

Yolo County was one of the original counties of California, created in 1850 at the time of statehood.

Government

The county is governed by a board of five district supervisors as well the governments of its four incorporated cities: Davis, West Sacramento, Winters, and Woodland.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 1024 sqmi, of which 8.9 sqmi (0.9%) is covered by water.

Adjacent counties

• Colusa County - north
• Sutter County - northeast
• Sacramento County - east
• Solano County - south
• Napa County - west
• Lake County - northwest

Transportation

Major highways

County roads

Addressing in Yolo County is based on a system of numbered county roads. The numbering system works in the following way:

1. North–south roads have numbers from 41 to 117 and increase from west to east.
2. East–west roads have numbers from 1 to 38A, and then from 151 to 161, and increase from north to south.

Each integer road number is generally 1 mi apart, with letters occasionally designating roads less than 1 mi apart. County roads entering urban areas generally become named roads once they cross a city boundary. Some examples include County Road 101 in Woodland being renamed Pioneer Avenue, and County Road 102 (also known as County Route E8) in Davis being named Pole Line Road.

Public transportation

• Yolobus (Yolo County Transportation District) runs buses throughout Yolo County and into Sacramento, and Sacramento International Airport.
• The University of California, Davis and the city of Davis jointly run Unitrans, a combination local city bus and campus shuttle.
• Fairfield-Suisun Transit Line 30 also stops in Davis on its runs between Fairfield (Solano County) and Sacramento.
• Amtrak has a station in Davis.

Airports

• Yolo County Airport
• University Airport
• Borges–Clarksburg Airport
• Watts–Woodland Airport

Port

The Port of Sacramento, now known as the Port of West Sacramento, is an inland port in West Sacramento, California, in the Sacramento metropolitan area. It is 79 nmi northeast of San Francisco, and is centered in the California Central Valley, one of the richest agricultural regions in the world.

Crime

This table includes the number of incidents reported and the rate per 1,000 persons for each type of offense.

Cities by population and crime rates

Politics

Yolo is a strongly Democratic county in presidential and congressional elections. The last Republican presidential candidate to win a majority in the county was Dwight Eisenhower in 1952, which is the longest Republican drought for any California county. In fact, since 1928, Eisenhower's win in 1952 was the only time the county was carried by the Republican presidential nominee.

Yolo County has been somewhat more likely to elect Republican governors since then (Ronald Reagan carried the county in 1966, George Deukmejian in 1986, and Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2003 and 2006).

In the United States House of Representatives, Yolo County is split between California's 4th and 7th congressional districts,{{Cite web | access-date = September 24, 2014 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130930184128/http://wedrawthelines.ca.gov/downloads/meeting_handouts_072011/handouts_20110729_q2_cd_finaldraft_splits.zip | archive-date = September 30, 2013 | url-status = dead

In the California State Senate, the county is entirely with the 3rd Senate district, represented by .

In the California State Assembly, the county is entirely within the 4th Assembly district, represented by .

In June 1978, Yolo was one of only three counties in the entire state to reject Proposition 13 (the others being San Francisco and Kern).

In November 2008, Yolo was one of just three counties in California's interior in which voters rejected Proposition 8 to ban gay marriage. Yolo voters rejected Proposition 8 by a vote of 58.65 to 41.35%. The other interior counties in which Proposition 8 failed to receive a majority of votes were Alpine County and Mono County. In 2024, all three joined 11 other interior counties which voted in favor of Proposition 3, which repealed Proposition 8 and established an affirmative right to marriage in the constitution, with Yolo supporting Proposition 3 70.4% to 29.6%.

Cities by population and voter registration

Demographics

1790-1960 1900–1990 1990-2000 2010 2020 | align-fn = center

2020 census

As of the 2020 census, the county had a population of 216,403. The median age was 33.3 years. 20.9% of residents were under the age of 18 and 14.0% of residents were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 93.0 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 90.3 males age 18 and over.

The racial makeup of the county was 49.6% White, 2.8% Black or African American, 1.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 14.0% Asian, 0.5% Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander, 15.7% from some other race, and 15.8% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino residents of any race comprised 33.1% of the population.

92.0% of residents lived in urban areas, while 8.0% lived in rural areas.

There were 76,594 households in the county, of which 32.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them and 28.5% had a female householder with no spouse or partner present. About 23.8% of all households were made up of individuals and 9.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.

There were 80,188 housing units, of which 4.5% were vacant. Among occupied housing units, 53.0% were owner-occupied and 47.0% were renter-occupied. The homeowner vacancy rate was 0.9% and the rental vacancy rate was 3.5%.

Racial and ethnic composition

2010

The 2010 United States census reported that Yolo County had a population of 200,849. The racial makeup of Yolo County was 126,883 (63.2%) White, 5,208 (2.6%) African American, 2,214 (1.1%) Native American, 26,052 (13.0%) Asian, 910 (0.5%) Pacific Islander, 27,882 (13.9%) from other races, and 11,700 (5.8%) from two or more races. Hispanics or Latinos of any race were 60,953 persons (30.3%).

2000 census

As of the census of 2000, 168,660 people, 59,375 households, and 37,465 families were residing in the county. The population density was 166 PD/sqmi. The 61,587 housing units had an average density of 61 /mi2. The racial makeup of the county was 67.7% White, 2.0% Black or African American, 1.2% Native American, 9.9% Asian, 0.3% Pacific Islander, 13.8% from other races, and 5.2% from two or more races. About 25.9% of the population were Hispanics or Latinos of any race. By ancestry, 10.0% were of German, 6.6% English and 6.4% Irish descent according to Census 2000. About 68.5% spoke English, 19.5% Spanish, 2.1% Chinese or Mandarin, and 1.8% Russian as their first language.

Of the 59,375 households, 33.6% had children under 18 living with them, 47.6% were married couples living together, 11.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 36.9% were not families. About 23.3% of all households were made up of individuals, and 7.3% had someone living alone who was 65 or older. The average household size was 2.71 and the average family size was 3.25.

In the county, the age distribution was 25.2% under 18, 18.3% from 18 to 24, 28.2% from 25 to 44, 18.9% from 45 to 64, and 9.4% who were 65 or older. The median age was 30 years. For every 100 females, there were 95.6 males. For every 100 females 18 and over, there were 92.2 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $40,769, and for a family was $51,623. Males had a median income of $38,022 versus $30,687 for females. The per capita income for the county was $19,365. About 9.5% of families and 18.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 16.0% of those under 18 and 7.4% of those 65 or over.

Education

Public schools

The county's public schools are managed by the Yolo County Office of Education.

Colleges and universities

• University of California, Davis
• Woodland Community College

Communities

Cities

• Davis
• West Sacramento
• Winters
• Woodland (county seat)

Census-designated places

• Brooks
• Clarksburg
• Dunnigan
• El Macero
• Esparto
• Guinda
• Knights Landing
• Madison
• Monument Hills
• Rumsey
• Tancred
• University of California-Davis
• Yolo

Other unincorporated communities

• Capay
• Plainfield
• Zamora
• Ronda is a former settlement that was located on the Southern Pacific Railroad 9.5 mi southeast of Dunnigan, at an elevation of 59 feet (18 m). It still appeared on maps as of 1915.

Population ranking

The population ranking of the following table is based on the 2010 census of Yolo County.

† county seat

Notes

References

References

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38. included in the Asian category in the 1980 Census
39. included in the Asian category in the 1990 Census
40. not an option in the 1980 Census
41. not an option in the 1990 Census
42. {{USCensus2010CA
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