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Amador County, California | |
|---|---|
 The Amador County foothills in April 2007 | |
 Flag  Seal | |
| Nickname: "The Heart of the Mother Lode" | |
 Interactive map of Amador County | |
 Location in the state of California | |
| Country | United States |
| State | California |
| Region | Sierra Nevada |
| Incorporated | May 1, 1854[1] |
| Named for | José María Amador |
| County seat | Jackson |
| Largest city | Ione (population and area) |
| Government | |
| • Type | Council–CAO |
| • Body | Board of Supervisors[2]
|
| • Chair | Jeff Brown |
| • Vice Chair | Brian Oneto |
| • County Administrative Officer | Chuck Iley |
| Area | |
| • Total | 606 sq mi (1,570 km2) |
| • Land | 595 sq mi (1,540 km2) |
| • Water | 11.4 sq mi (30 km2) |
| Highest elevation | 9,414 ft (2,869 m) |
| Population (2020) | |
| • Total | 40,474 |
| • Density | 67/sq mi (26/km2) |
| Time zone | UTC-8 (Pacific Time Zone) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC-7 (Pacific Daylight Time) |
| Area code | 209 |
| FIPS code | 06-005 |
| GNIS feature ID | 1675841 |
| Congressional district | 5th |
| Website | www |
Amador County (/ˈæmədɔːr/ ⓘ) is a county located in the U.S. state of California, in the Sierra Nevada. As of the 2020 census, the population was 40,474.[4] The county seat is Jackson.[5] Amador County, located within California's Gold Country, is known as "The Heart of the Mother Lode". There is a substantial viticultural industry in the county.
History
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Amador County was created by the California Legislature on May 11, 1854, from parts of Calaveras and El Dorado counties.[7] It was organized on July 3, 1854.[7] In 1864, part of the county's territory was given to Alpine County.
The county is named for José María Amador, a soldier, rancher, and miner, born in San Francisco in 1794,[8] the son of Sergeant Pedro Amador (a Spanish soldier who settled in California in 1771) and younger brother to Sinforosa Amador.
In 1848, Jose Maria Amador, with several Native Americans, established a successful gold mining camp near the present town of Amador City. In Spanish, the word amador means "one who loves". Some of the Mother Lode's most successful gold mines were located in Amador County, including the Kennedy, Argonaut, and Keystone.
There are numerous gold mines in Amador County including the Argonaut Mine, the Kennedy Mine, the Central Eureka, and the Lincoln. The Kennedy Mine in Jackson was the deepest gold mine of its time. The federal government closed all of the Mother Lode's mines in 1942 because they were considered non-essential to the war effort.[citation needed]
Geography
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 606 square miles (1,570 km2), of which 595 square miles (1,540 km2) is land and 11.4 square miles (30 km2) (1.9%) is water.[9] It is the fifth-smallest county in California by land area and second-smallest by total area. Water bodies in the county include Lake Amador, Lake Camanche, Pardee Reservoir, Bear River Reservoir, Silver Lake, Sutter Creek, Cosumnes River, Mokelumne River, and Lake Tabeaud. Thirty-seven miles of the North Fork and main Mokelumne River were added to the California Wild and Scenic Rivers System on June 27, 2018, when Governor Edmund G. "Jerry" Brown signed Senate Bill 854.
Amador County is located approximately 45 miles (72 km) southeast of Sacramento in the part of California known as the Mother Lode, or Gold Country in the Sierra Nevada.
Amador County ranges in elevation from approximately 250 feet (76 m) in the western portion of the county to over 9,000 feet (2,700 m) in the eastern portion of the county, the tallest point being Thunder Mountain. The county is bordered on the north by the Cosumnes River and El Dorado County and on the south by the Mokelumne River and Calaveras County, on the west by Sacramento and San Joaquin Counties, and the east by Alpine County.
Adjacent counties
- El Dorado County – north
- Alpine County – east
- Calaveras County – south
- San Joaquin County – southwest
- Sacramento County – west
National protected area
- Eldorado National Forest (part)
- Mokelumne Wilderness (part)
Demographics
| Census | Pop. | Note | %± |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1860 | 10,930 | — | |
| 1870 | 9,582 | −12.3% | |
| 1880 | 11,384 | 18.8% | |
| 1890 | 10,320 | −9.3% | |
| 1900 | 11,116 | 7.7% | |
| 1910 | 9,086 | −18.3% | |
| 1920 | 7,793 | −14.2% | |
| 1930 | 8,494 | 9.0% | |
| 1940 | 8,973 | 5.6% | |
| 1950 | 9,151 | 2.0% | |
| 1960 | 9,990 | 9.2% | |
| 1970 | 11,821 | 18.3% | |
| 1980 | 19,314 | 63.4% | |
| 1990 | 30,039 | 55.5% | |
| 2000 | 35,100 | 16.8% | |
| 2010 | 38,091 | 8.5% | |
| 2020 | 40,474 | 6.3% | |
| 2023 (est.) | 41,811 | [10] | 3.3% |
| U.S. Decennial Census[11] 1790–1960[12] 1900–1990[13] 1990–2000[14] 2010[15] 2020[16] | |||
2020 census
| Race / Ethnicity | Pop 2010[15] | Pop 2020[16] | % 2010 | % 2020 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| White alone (NH) | 30,325 | 29,725 | 79.61% | 73.44% |
| Black or African American alone (NH) | 938 | 1,215 | 2.46% | 3.00% |
| Native American or Alaska Native alone (NH) | 547 | 577 | 1.44% | 1.43% |
| Asian alone (NH) | 396 | 554 | 1.04% | 1.37% |
| Pacific Islander alone (NH) | 63 | 73 | 0.17% | 0.18% |
| Some Other Race alone (NH) | 130 | 249 | 0.34% | 0.62% |
| Mixed Race/Multi-Racial (NH) | 936 | 2,067 | 2.46% | 5.11% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 4,756 | 6,014 | 12.49% | 14.86% |
| Total | 38,091 | 40,474 | 100.00% | 100.00% |
Note: the US Census treats Hispanic/Latino as an ethnic category. This table excludes Latinos from the racial categories and assigns them to a separate category. Hispanics/Latinos can be of any race.
2011
| Population, race, and income | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total population[17] | 38,244 | ||||
| White[17] | 33,454 | 87.5% | |||
| Black or African American[17] | 870 | 2.3% | |||
| American Indian or Alaska Native[17] | 889 | 2.3% | |||
| Asian[17] | 529 | 1.4% | |||
| Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander[17] | 82 | 0.2% | |||
| Some other race[17] | 1,432 | 3.7% | |||
| Two or more races[17] | 988 | 2.6% | |||
| Hispanic or Latino (of any race)[18] | 4,677 | 12.2% | |||
| Per capita income[19] | $28,030 | ||||
| Median household income[20] | $56,180 | ||||
| Median family income[21] | $69,521 | ||||
Places by population, race, and income
| Place | Type[22] | Population[17] | White[17] | Other[17] [note 1] |
Asian[17] | Black or African American[17] |
Native American[17] [note 2] |
Hispanic or Latino (of any race)[18] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amador City | City | 158 | 100.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| Buckhorn | CDP | 2,090 | 98.4% | 1.6% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 5.6% |
| Buena Vista | CDP | 435 | 68.5% | 25.1% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 6.4% | 0.0% |
| Camanche North Shore | CDP | 791 | 96.7% | 3.3% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 16.9% |
| Camanche Village | CDP | 704 | 100.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| Drytown | CDP | 138 | 100.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| Fiddletown | CDP | 121 | 100.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| Ione | City | 7,873 | 70.7% | 14.6% | 2.6% | 9.7% | 2.4% | 25.3% |
| Jackson† | City | 4,626 | 90.7% | 4.8% | 1.2% | 0.8% | 2.5% | 16.6% |
| Kirkwood‡ | CDP | 158 | 96.8% | 0.0% | 0.6% | 2.5% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| Martell | CDP | 140 | 100.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| Pine Grove | CDP | 2,573 | 93.0% | 5.9% | 1.1% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 7.3% |
| Pioneer | CDP | 1,226 | 82.1% | 2.6% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 15.3% | 0.0% |
| Plymouth | City | 1,055 | 94.0% | 3.2% | 0.6% | 0.0% | 2.2% | 11.7% |
| Red Corral | CDP | 1,757 | 84.4% | 11.8% | 2.3% | 0.2% | 1.4% | 2.9% |
| River Pines | CDP | 578 | 97.1% | 0.0% | 2.9% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 6.9% |
| Sutter Creek | City | 2,497 | 93.4% | 1.5% | 4.8% | 0.0% | 0.3% | 5.3% |
| Volcano | CDP | 184 | 99.4% | 0.0% | 0.6% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
† County seat
‡ Data for Amador County area of this CDP