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Solano County, California | ||
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![]() Location in the state of California | ||
California's location in the U.S. | ||
Founded | 1850 | |
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Seat | Fairfield | |
Area - Total - Land - Water |
907 sq mi (2,349 km²) 829 sq mi (2,147 km²) 77 sq mi (199 km²), 25.00% | |
Population - (2020) - Density |
453,491 477/sq mi (184/km²) | |
Website | www.co.solano.ca.us |

The Solano County Government Center in Downtown Fairfield
Solano County is a county located in Bay-Delta region of the U.S. state of California, about halfway between San Francisco and Sacramento and is one of the nine San Francisco Bay Area counties. As of 2020 its population was 453,491. The county seat is Fairfield.
History[]
Solano County was one of the original counties of California, created in 1850 at the time of statehood. Prior to statehood, it had been referred to as Benicia County.
At the request of General Mariano Vallejo, the county derives its name directly from an Indian Chief, Chief Solano of the Suisunes, a Native American tribe of the region and Vallejo's close ally. Chief Solano at one time led the tribes between the Petaluma River and the Sacramento River. The chief was also called Sem-Yeto, which signifies "brave or fierce hand." The Chief was given the Spanish name Francisco Solano during baptism at the Catholic Mission, and is named after the Spanish Franciscan missionary, Father Francisco Solano. "Solano" is a common surname in the north of Spain, specially in Navarra, Zaragoza and La Rioja.
Travis Air Force Base is located just east of Fairfield.
Geography[]
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 2,348 km² (907 sq mi). 2,148 km² (829 sq mi) of it is land and 201 km² (77 sq mi) of it (8.55%) is water.
A portion of the South Campus at the University of California is in Solano County.
Cities and towns[]
Unincorporated communities[]
- Birds Landing
- Collinsville
- Cordelia - located within the city limits of Fairfield.
- Elmira
- Green Valley
- Bucktown - within or just outside of NW Vacaville.
Adjacent counties[]
- Contra Costa County - south
- Sonoma County - west
- Napa County - west
- Yolo County - north
- Sacramento County - east
Environment[]
Endangered species[]
Solano county has a number of rare and endangered species including the wildflower Lasthenia conjugens, commonly known as Contra Costa goldfields and the annual plant Legenere limosa or False Venus' looking glass.
Solano County has several inactive cinnabar mines including the Hastings Mine and St. John's Mine,[1] both of which are subject to ongoing environmental monitoring; these mines were worked in the first half of the twentieth century.
Transportation infrastructure[]
Major highways[]
Interstate 80
Interstate 505
Interstate 680
Interstate 780
California State Route 12
California State Route 37
California State Route 84
California State Route 113
Public transportation[]
Solano County is served by several transit agencies:
- Vallejo Transit, which also operates the Baylink Ferry to San Francisco
- Fairfield Suisun Transit
- Benicia Breeze
- Vacaville City Coach
- Rio Vista Delta Breeze
Each agency interconnects with each other, enabling transit trips throughout the county. Service also connects with BART stations in Contra Costa County. Transit links are provided to Napa, Yolo and Sacramento counties as well.
Greyhound and Amtrak provide long-distance intercity service.
Airports[]
General aviation airports in Solano County include: the Nut Tree Airport, Rio Vista Municipal Airport and Vacaville Airport
Demographics[]
As of the census² of 2000, there were 394,542 people, 130,403 households, and 97,411 families residing in the county. The population density was 184/km² (476/sq mi). There were 134,513 housing units at an average density of 63/km² (162/sq mi). The racial makeup of the county was 56.37% White, 14.91% Black or African American, 0.79% Native American, 12.75% Asian, 0.78% Pacific Islander, 8.01% from other races, and 6.39% from two or more races. 17.64% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. 75.7% spoke English, 12.1% Spanish and 6.6% Tagalog as their first language.
There were 130,403 households out of which 39.90% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 55.70% were married couples living together, 13.80% had a female householder with no husband present, and 25.30% were non-families. 19.60% of all households were made up of individuals and 6.50% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.90 and the average family size was 3.33.
In the county the population was spread out with 28.30% under the age of 18, 9.20% from 18 to 24, 31.30% from 25 to 44, 21.70% from 45 to 64, and 9.50% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females there were 101.50 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 100.20 males.
The median income for a household in the county was $54,099, and the median income for a family was $60,597. Males had a median income of $41,787 versus $31,916 for females. The per capita income for the county was $21,731. About 6.10% of families and 8.30% of the population were below the poverty line, including 10.30% of those under age 18 and 6.30% of those age 65 or over.
Politics[]
Since 1932, Solano County has been a Democratic stronghold in presidential and congressional elections, with Californians Richard Nixon in 1972 and Ronald Reagan in 1980 and 1984 being the only Republicans to win the county since.
Year | Republican | Democratic | Third party | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
No. | % | No. | % | No. | % | |
2020 | 69,306 | 33.51% | 131,639 | 63.65% | 5,886 | 2.85% |
2016 | 51,920 | 30.88% | 102,360 | 60.87% | 13,870 | 8.25% |
2012 | 52,092 | 34.08% | 96,783 | 63.32% | 3,965 | 2.59% |
2008 | 56,035 | 34.68% | 102,095 | 63.18% | 3,458 | 2.14% |
2004 | 62,301 | 41.86% | 85,096 | 57.17% | 1,440 | 0.97% |
2000 | 51,604 | 39.17% | 75,116 | 57.02% | 5,015 | 3.81% |
1996 | 40,742 | 34.74% | 64,644 | 55.12% | 11,893 | 10.14% |
1992 | 38,883 | 29.43% | 64,320 | 48.69% | 28,908 | 21.88% |
1988 | 50,314 | 47.43% | 54,344 | 51.23% | 1,430 | 1.35% |
1984 | 51,678 | 54.51% | 41,982 | 44.29% | 1,138 | 1.20% |
1980 | 40,919 | 50.72% | 30,952 | 38.37% | 8,805 | 10.91% |
1976 | 26,136 | 42.40% | 33,682 | 54.64% | 1,826 | 2.96% |
1972 | 31,314 | 54.02% | 24,766 | 42.73% | 1,885 | 3.25% |
1968 | 17,683 | 34.71% | 27,271 | 53.52% | 5,998 | 11.77% |
1964 | 15,263 | 30.38% | 34,930 | 69.53% | 47 | 0.09% |
1960 | 18,751 | 40.88% | 26,977 | 58.81% | 141 | 0.31% |
1956 | 17,865 | 41.68% | 24,903 | 58.10% | 95 | 0.22% |
1952 | 19,369 | 42.37% | 26,130 | 57.16% | 216 | 0.47% |
1948 | 12,345 | 33.71% | 23,257 | 63.50% | 1,022 | 2.79% |
1944 | 10,361 | 29.77% | 24,335 | 69.93% | 105 | 0.30% |
1940 | 6,081 | 28.51% | 15,054 | 70.58% | 193 | 0.90% |
1936 | 3,603 | 20.89% | 13,459 | 78.05% | 182 | 1.06% |
1932 | 4,382 | 30.30% | 9,712 | 67.16% | 367 | 2.54% |
1928 | 7,061 | 52.32% | 6,278 | 46.51% | 158 | 1.17% |
1924 | 4,782 | 48.00% | 957 | 9.61% | 4,223 | 42.39% |
1920 | 7,102 | 64.77% | 2,954 | 26.94% | 909 | 8.29% |
1916 | 3,536 | 36.35% | 5,678 | 58.37% | 514 | 5.28% |
1912 | 40 | 0.50% | 3,650 | 45.66% | 4,303 | 53.83% |
1908 | 3,115 | 54.72% | 2,033 | 35.71% | 545 | 9.57% |
1904 | 3,176 | 61.37% | 1,555 | 30.05% | 444 | 8.58% |
1900 | 3,114 | 55.36% | 2,262 | 40.21% | 249 | 4.43% |
1896 | 2,702 | 53.19% | 2,284 | 44.96% | 94 | 1.85% |
1892 | 2,403 | 49.21% | 2,174 | 44.52% | 306 | 6.27% |
1888 | 2,231 | 49.67% | 2,158 | 48.04% | 103 | 2.29% |
1884 | 2,382 | 53.61% | 1,977 | 44.50% | 84 | 1.89% |
1880 | 1,963 | 49.80% | 1,959 | 49.70% | 20 | 0.51% |
Solano County is split between California's 3rd and 5th congressional districts, represented by John Garamendi (D–Walnut Grove) and Mike Thompson (D–St. Helena), respectively.[3]
In the California State Assembly, Solano County is split between the 4th Assembly District, represented by Democrat Bill Dodd, and the 11th Assembly District, represented by Democrat Jim Frazier. In the California State Senate, it is in the 3rd Senate District, represented by Democrat Lois Wolk.[4]
On November 4, 2008, Solano County voted 55.82% in favor of Proposition 8, which amended the California Constitution to ban same-sex marriages. It was the only Bay Area county to approve the initiative.[5] In the 2008 presidential election that day, Barack Obama carried the county by a 28.5% margin over John McCain, a larger margin than statewide (24%).[6]
According to the California Secretary of State, as of February 10, 2019, Solano County has 236,028 registered voters. Of those, 106,452 (45.1%) are registered Democrats, 50,006 (21.2%) are registered Republicans, and 66,558 (28.2%) have declined to state a political party.[7] Democrats hold voter-registration advantages in all incorporated cities and towns in Solano County. However, Republicans lead in registration in the unincorporated communities of the county (40%-35%), making Solano the only county in the Bay Area where Republicans out-number Democrats in unincorporated communities. The Democrats' largest registration advantage in Solano is in the city of Vallejo, wherein there are only 8,242 Republicans (14.6%) out of 56,313 total voters compared to 33,753 Democrats (59.9%) and 12,157 voters who have declined to state a political party (21.6%).
Trivia[]
In 1985 Humphrey the humpback whale strayed off his migration route and ended up in Rio Vista at which point rescuers from The Marine Mammal Center and other volunteers were able to turn him around in the narrow river channel.
See also[]
References[]
- ^ C.Michael Hogan, Marc Papineau et al., {{subst:#ifexist:Environmental Assessment|[[Environmental Assessment|]]|[[Wikipedia:Environmental Assessment|]]}} of the columbus Parkway Widening between Ascot Parkway and the Northgate Development, Vallejo, Earth Metrics Inc. Report 7853, California State Clearinghouse, Sept, 1989
- ^ Leip, David. "Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections". http://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/.
- ^ "California's 3rd Congressional District - Representatives & District Map". Civic Impulse, LLC. http://www.govtrack.us/congress/members/CA/3.
- ^ "Statewide Database". UC Regents. http://statewidedatabase.org/gis/gis2011/index_2011.html.
- ^ https://elections.cdn.sos.ca.gov/sov/2008-general/ssov/10-ballot-measures-statewide-summary-by-county.pdf
- ^ Leip, David. "Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections". http://www.uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/.
- ^ CA Secretary of State – Report of Registration – February 10, 2019 Archived March 23, 2019, at the Wayback Machine
External links[]
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This page uses content from the English language Wikipedia. The original content was at Solano County, California. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with this Familypedia wiki, the content of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons License. |