Founded 1851 Time zone Central: UTC-6/-5 Area 2,113 km² County seat Viroqua | Congressional district 3rd Website www.vernoncounty.org Population 30,329 (2013) Largest city Viroqua | |
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Rivers Mississippi River, Kickapoo River, Coon Creek Points of interest Blackhawk Park, Kickapoo Valley Reserve, Jersey Valley County P, Vernon County Museum, Branches Winery Destinations Mississippi River, Wildcat Mountain State Park, De Soto, Westby, Viroqua | ||
Vernon County is a county in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2010 census, the population was 29,773. Its county seat is Viroqua.
Contents
Map of Vernon County, WI, USA
History
Vernon County was renamed from Bad Ax County on 22 March 1862. Bad Ax County had been created on 1 March 1851 from territory that had been part of Richland and Crawford counties. The name Vernon was chosen to reflect the county's green fields of wheat and to evoke Mount Vernon.
Geography
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 816 square miles (2,110 km2), of which 792 square miles (2,050 km2) is land and 25 square miles (65 km2) (3.0%) is water.
Airports
Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 28,056 people, 10,825 households, and 7,501 families residing in the county. The population density was 35 people per square mile (14/km²). There were 12,416 housing units at an average density of 16 per square mile (6/km²). The racial makeup of the county was 98.81% White, 0.06% Black or African American, 0.15% Native American, 0.21% Asian, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 0.27% from other races, and 0.48% from two or more races. 0.66% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. 38.3% were of Norwegian, 26.9% German, 6.4% Irish and 6.1% English ancestry. 90.9% spoke English, 3.5% German, 1.8% Norwegian, 1.2% Pennsylvania Dutch and 1.0% Spanish as their first language.
There were 10,825 households out of which 31.50% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 58.70% were married couples living together, 6.80% had a female householder with no husband present, and 30.70% were non-families. 26.70% of all households were made up of individuals and 13.70% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.55 and the average family size was 3.11.
In the county, the population was spread out with 27.40% under the age of 18, 6.80% from 18 to 24, 25.30% from 25 to 44, 23.50% from 45 to 64, and 17.00% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females there were 97.70 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 95.60 males.
Economy
The county is home to the headquarters of Organic Valley, the world's largest cooperative of family farmers.