San Joaquin County, California

History

San Joaquin County was one of the original United States counties of California, created in 1850 at the time of statehood.

The county was named for the San Joaquin River which runs through it. In the early 19th century Lieutenant Gabriel Moraga, commanding an expedition in the lower great California Central Valley, gave the name of San Joaquin (meaning Joachim) to the San Joaquin River, which springs from the southern Sierra Nevada. San Joaquin County is the site of the San Joaquin Valley's first permanent residence.

Between 1843 and 1846, during the era when California was a province of independent Mexico, five Mexican land grants were made in what became San Joaquin County: Campo de los Franceses, Pescadero (Grimes), Pescadero (Pico), Sanjon de los Moquelumnes and Thompson.

It was developed for ranching and agriculture. It attracted more miners and settlers at the time of the California Gold Rush.

Tracy tire fire

On August 7, 1998, a tire fire ignited at S.F. Royster's Tire Disposal just south of Tracy on South MacArthur Drive, near Linne Rd. The tire dump held over 7 million illegally stored tires and was allowed to burn for more than two years before it was extinguished. Allowing the fire to burn was considered to be a better way to avoid groundwater contamination than putting it out. The cleanup cost $16.2 million and wound up contaminating local groundwater anyway.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 1,426 square miles (3,690 km²), of which 1,391 square miles (3,600 km²) is land and 35 square miles (91 km²) (2.5%) is water.

The center of San Joaquin County is near Stockton at about 37°54'N 121°12'W (37.9,-121.2).

National protected area

2010

The 2010 United States Census reported that San Joaquin County had a population of 685,306. The racial makeup of San Joaquin County was 349,287 (51.0%) White, 51,744 (7.6%) African American, 7,196 (1.1%) Native American, 98,472 (14.4%) Asian, 3,758 (0.5%) Pacific Islander, 131,054 (19.1%) from other races, and 43,795 (6.4%) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 266,341 persons (38.9%). The Filipino American population was 46,447, just under half (47%) of all Asian Americans in San Joaquin County, and as of 1990 have been the largest population of Asian Americans in the county.

2000

As of the census of 2000, there were 563,598 people, 181,629 households, and 134,768 families residing in the county. The population density was 403 people per square mile (156/km²). There were 189,160 housing units at an average density of 135 per square mile (52/km²). The racial makeup of the county was 58.1% White, 6.7% Black or African American, 1.1% Native American, 11.4% Asian, 0.4% Pacific Islander, 16.3% from other races, and 6.1% from two or more races. 30.5% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. 9.3% were of German, 5.3% Irish and 5.0% English ancestry according to Census 2000. 66.4% spoke English, 21.3% Spanish, 2.2% Tagalog, 1.8% Mon-Khmer or Cambodian, 1.1% Vietnamese and 1.1% Hmong as their first language.

There were 181,629 households out of which 40.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 54.3% were married couples living together, 14.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 25.8% were non-families. 20.7% of all households were made up of individuals and 8.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.00 and the average family size was 3.48.

In the county, the population was spread out with 31.0% under the age of 18, 10.0% from 18 to 24, 28.8% from 25 to 44, 19.6% from 45 to 64, and 10.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 32 years. For every 100 females there were 99.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 97.2 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $41,282, and the median income for a family was $46,919. Males had a median income of $39,246 versus $27,507 for females. The per capita income for the county was $17,365. About 13.5% of families and 17.7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 23.7% of those under age 18 and 10.0% of those age 65 or over.

Metropolitan Statistical Area

The United States Office of Management and Budget has designated San Joaquin County as the Stockton-Lodi, CA Metropolitan Statistical Area. The United States Census Bureau ranked the Stockton-Lodi, CA Metropolitan Statistical Area as the 76th most populous metropolitan statistical area of the United States as of July 1, 2012.

The Office of Management and Budget has further designated the Stockton-Lodi, CA Metropolitan Statistical Area as a component of the more extensive San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland, CA Combined Statistical Area, the 5th most populous combined statistical area and primary statistical area of the United States as of July 1, 2012.

Government

The Government of San Joaquin County is defined and authorized under the California Constitution and California law as a general law county. Much of the Government of California is in practice the responsibility of county governments, such as the Government of San Joaquin County. The County government provides countywide services such as elections and voter registration, law enforcement, jails, vital records, property records, tax collection, public health, and social services. In addition the County serves as the local government for all unincorporated areas. Some chartered cities such as Stockton and Tracy provide their own municipal services such as police, public safety, libraries, parks and recreation, and zoning. Some other cities arrange to have the County provide some or all of these services on a contract basis.

The County government is composed of the elected five-member Board of Supervisors (BOS), which operates in a legislative, executive, and quasi-judicial capacity; several other elected offices including the Sheriff, District Attorney, and Assessor; and numerous county departments and entities under the supervision of the County Administrator.

As of February 2017, the supervisors are:

In addition, several entities of the government of California have jurisdiction conterminous with San Joaquin County, such as the San Joaquin County Superior Court, and the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation operates the Deuel Vocational Institution a state prison in unincorporated San Joaquin County near Tracy.

Overview

San Joaquin was historically a Republican-leaning county in Presidential and Congressional elections, and is trending Democratic. Until recently, the last Democrat to win a majority in the county before 2008 was Lyndon Johnson in 1964, although Bill Clinton won pluralities in the county in 1992 and 1996. However, in 2008, Democrat Barack Obama won 54.5% of the county's vote. In 2012, Obama even increased his share of his vote to 55.6% of the vote.

In the United States House of Representatives, San Joaquin County is split between California's 9th and 10th congressional districts, represented by Jerry McNerney (D–Stockton) and Jeff Denham (R–Atwater), respectively.

In the California State Assembly, San Joaquin County is split between 3 legislative districts:

In the California State Senate, San Joaquin County is in the 5th Senate District, represented by Democrat Cathleen Galgiani.

On November 4, 2008, San Joaquin County voted 65.5% for Proposition 8 which amended the California Constitution to ban same-sex marriages.

Crime

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

Economy

San Joaquin County is home to one of the most reputable and largest walnut processing faculties in the world, DeRuosi Nut. Another large company; Pacific State Bancorp (PSBC) was based here but was closed by the California Department of Financial Institutions on August 20, 2010.

Education

San Joaquin County is home to 14 public school districts and numerous private schools.

On June 8, 2010 Lammersville Unified School District was approved in the new town of * Mountain House.

The San Joaquin Delta Community College District is composed of San Joaquin Delta College located in Stockton and covers San Joaquin County as well as Rio Vista in Solano County, Galt in Sacramento County, and a large portion of Calaveras County.

Media

The Record and The Lodi News-Sentinel are daily newspapers. Bilingual Weekly News publishes a weekly newspaper in both Spanish and English. Tracy Press also publishes a weekly newspaper.

Big Monkey Group publishes four Stockton magazines: Weston Ranch Monthly, Brookside Monthly, Spanos Park Monthly and On the Mile. Caravan is a local community arts and events monthly tabloid. The Central Valley Business Journal is a monthly business tabloid. San Joaquin Magazine is a regional lifestyle magazine covering Stockton, Lodi, Tracy, and Manteca. The Downtowner is a free monthly guide to downtown Stockton's events, commerce, real estate, and other cultural and community happenings.

Poets' Espresso Review is a periodical that has been based in Stockton, mostly distributed by mail, since summer of 2005. Artifact is a San Joaquin Delta College periodical based in Stockton since December 2006, featuring writing in all genres, photography, and visual media by students, staff and faculty as well as community members. The Pacifican, University of the Pacific's newspaper since 1908 features News, Opinion, Lifestyles, and Sports pertinent to the Pacific campus and surrounding Stockton community.

The FX show Sons of Anarchy is set in Charming, California, a fictional town in San Joaquin County.

Public transportation

San Joaquin Regional Transit District provides city bus service within Stockton. RTD also runs intercity routes throughout the county, and subscription commuter routes to Livermore, Pleasanton, Sacramento, and Santa Clara County.

The cities of Lodi, Escalon, Manteca, Tracy and Ripon operate their own bus systems.

Train and bus service

Greyhound buses and Amtrak trains both stop in Stockton. Amtrak's San Joaquins Oakland-Bakersfield train stops at the San Joaquin Street Station. Amtrak's San Joaquins Sacramento-Bakersfield trains stop at the Robert J. Cabral Station which is also used by Altamont Commuter Express trains which originate in Stockton. RTD Hopper is a public bus service connecting Ripon, Manteca, Tracy, Lodi and Lathrop to Stockton.

Airports

Stockton Metropolitan Airport features passenger service to Las Vegas along with cargo service and general aviation. Other general aviation airports in the county include Lodi Airport and Tracy Municipal Airport.

Port

Port of Stockton is a major inland deepwater port in Stockton, California located on the San Joaquin River before it joins the Sacramento River to empty into Suisun Bay, eighty miles inland. The port sits on about 4,200 acres (17 km²), and occupies an island in the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta.

Cities

Unincorporated communities

Population ranking

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

† county seat