Solano County, California

County of Solano
—  County  —
The Solano County Government Center in Downtown Fairfield
Seal
Location in the state of California
California's location in the United States
Country	United States
State	California
Region/Metro area	San Francisco Bay Area
Incorporated	February 18, 1850
County seat	Fairfield
Largest city	Vallejo
Area
• Total	906.67 sq mi (2,348.3 km2)
• Land	829.19 sq mi (2,147.6 km2)
• Water	77.48 sq mi (200.7 km2)
Population (2010)
• Total	413,344
• Density	Bad rounding here460/sq mi (Bad rounding here180/km2)
Time zone	Pacific Standard Time (UTC-8)
• Summer (DST)	Pacific Daylight Time (UTC-7)
Area code(s)	707
Website	www.solanocounty.com

Solano County is a county located in the U.S. state of California, about halfway between San Francisco and Sacramento. It is officially one of the nine San Francisco Bay Area counties, and one of four North Bay counties. The county's population was reported by the U.S. Census to be 413,344 in 2010. The county seat is Fairfield and the largest city is Vallejo.

History

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

At the request of General Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo, the county derives its name directly from an Indian Chief, Chief Solano of the Suisun people, 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, especially in Navarra, Zaragoza and La Rioja.

Travis Air Force Base is located just east of Fairfield.

Region

Solano County is the easternmost county of the North Bay. As such, it is sometimes reported by news agencies as being in the East Bay. Additionally, a portion of the county extends into the Central Valley, geographically.

Geography

According to the 2000 census, the county has a total area of 906.67 square miles (2,348.3 km²), of which 829.19 square miles (2,147.6 km²) (or 91.45%) is land and 77.48 square miles (200.7 km²) (or 8.55%) is water.

A portion of the South Campus at the University of California, Davis is in Solano County.

Cities and towns

• Benicia
• Dixon
• Fairfield
• Rio Vista
• Suisun City
• Vacaville
• Vallejo

Unincorporated communities

• Allendale
• Bahia
• Birds Landing
• Bucktown - within or just outside of NW Vacaville.
• Collinsville
• Cordelia - located mostly within the city limits of Fairfield.
• Elmira
• Green Valley
• Hartley
• Maine Prairie
• Rockville
• Scandia

Adjacent counties

• Contra Costa County, California - south
• Sonoma County, California - west
• Napa County, California - west
• Yolo County, California - north
• Sacramento County, California - east

National protected area

• San Pablo Bay National Wildlife Refuge (part)

Environment

Endangered species

Solano County has a number of rare and endangered species including the beetle Elaphrus viridis, 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, 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
• State Route 12
• State Route 29
• State Route 37
• State Route 84
• State Route 113

Public transportation

Solano County is served by several transit agencies:

• SolTrans, formed as a merger between these two existing transit agencies:
  • Vallejo Transit, which also operates the Baylink Ferry to San Francisco
  • Benicia Breeze
• Fairfield and Suisun Transit
• 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 which are open to the public are the Nut Tree Airport and Rio Vista Municipal Airport.

Demographics

Historical populations
Census	Pop.		%±
1850	580		—
1860	7,169		1,136.0%
1870	16,871		135.3%
1880	18,475		9.5%
1890	20,946		13.4%
1900	24,143		15.3%
1910	27,559		14.1%
1920	40,602		47.3%
1930	40,834		0.6%
1940	49,118		20.3%
1950	104,833		113.4%
1960	134,597		28.4%
1970	169,941		26.3%
1980	235,203		38.4%
1990	340,421		44.7%
2000	394,542		15.9%
2010	413,344		4.8%

2010

The 2010 United States Census reported that Solano County had a population of 413,344. The racial makeup of Solano County was 210,751 (51.0%) White, 60,750 (14.7%) African American, 3,212 (0.8%) Native American, 60,473 (14.6%) Asian, 3,564 (0.9%) Pacific Islander, 43,236 (10.5%) from other races, and 31,358 (7.6%) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 99,356 persons (24.0%).

Population reported at 2010 United States Census
The County	Total Population	White	African American	Native American	Asian	Pacific Islander	other races	two or more races	Hispanic or Latino (of any race)
Solano County	413,344	210,751	60,750	3,212	60,473	3,564	43,236	31,358	99,356
Incorporated cities and towns	Total Population	White	African American	Native American	Asian	Pacific Islander	other races	two or more races	Hispanic or Latino (of any race)
Benicia	26,997	19,568	1,510	135	2,989	102	895	1,798	3,248
Dixon	18,351	13,023	562	184	671	58	2,838	1,015	7,426
Fairfield	105,321	48,407	16,586	869	15,700	1,149	13,301	9,309	28,789
Rio Vista	7,360	6,003	372	53	359	15	288	270	914
Suisun City	28,111	10,805	5,713	196	5,348	340	2,898	2,811	6,753
Vacaville	92,428	61,301	9,510	846	5,606	532	8,136	6,497	21,121
Vallejo	115,942	38,064	25,572	757	28,895	1,239	12,759	8,656	26,165
Census-designated places	Total Population	White	African American	Native American	Asian	Pacific Islander	other races	two or more races	Hispanic or Latino (of any race)
Allendale	1,506	1,239	49	22	42	2	79	73	235
Elmira	188	150	1	10	2	0	17	8	47
Green Valley	1,625	1,412	41	6	82	9	20	55	121
Hartley	2,510	1,956	70	24	70	16	248	126	510
Unincorporated communities	Total Population	White	African American	Native American	Asian	Pacific Islander	other races	two or more races	Hispanic or Latino (of any race)
All others not CDPs (combined)	13,005	8,823	764	110	709	102	1,757	740	4,027

2000

As of the census of 2000, there were 394,542 people, 130,403 households, and 97,411 families residing in the county. The population density was 476 people per square mile (184/km²). There were 134,513 housing units at an average density of 162 per square mile (63/km²). The racial makeup of the county was 56.4% White, 14.9% Black or African American, 0.8% Native American, 12.8% Asian, 0.8% Pacific Islander, 8.0% from other races, and 6.4% from two or more races. 17.64% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. 8.5% were of German, 6.4% Irish and 6.0% English ancestry according to Census 2000. 75.7% spoke English, 12.1% Spanish and 6.6% Tagalog as their first language.

There were 130,403 households out of which 39.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 55.7% were married couples living together, 13.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 25.3% were non-families. 19.6% of all households were made up of individuals and 6.5% 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 28.3% under the age of 18, 9.2% from 18 to 24, 31.3% from 25 to 44, 21.7% from 45 to 64, and 9.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females there were 101.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 100.2 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 6.1% of families and 8.3% of the population were below the poverty line, including 10.3% of those under age 18 and 6.3% of those age 65 or over.

Government and politics

Government

The Government of Solano County is defined and authorized under the California Constitution and law as a general law 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.

The County government is composed of the elected five-member Board of Supervisors, several other elected offices including the Sheriff-Coroner, District Attorney, Assessor/Recorder, Auditor-Controller, and Treasurer/Tax Collector/County Clerk, and numerous county departments and entities under the supervision of the County Administrator. As of January 2013 the members of the Solano County Board of Supervisors were:

• Erin Hannigan, District 1
• Linda Seifert, District 2, Chairman
• Jim Spering, District 3
• John Vasquez, District 4
• Skip Thomson, District 5, Vice-Chairman

Politics

Solano County vote
by party in presidential elections

Year	GOP	DEM	Others
2012	34.9% 49,283	63.0% 88,984	2.1% 3,035
2008	34.9% 56,035	63.5% 102,095	2.1% 3,458
2004	41.9% 62,301	57.2% 85,096	1.0% 1,440
2000	39.2% 51,604	57.0% 75,116	3.8% 5,015
1996	34.7% 40,742	55.1% 64,644	10.1% 11,893
1992	29.4% 38,883	48.7% 64,320	21.9% 28,908
1988	47.4% 50,314	51.2% 54,344	1.4% 1,430
1984	54.5% 51,678	44.3% 41,982	1.2% 1,138
1980	50.7% 40,919	38.4% 30,952	10.9% 8,805
1976	42.4% 26,136	54.6% 33,682	3.0% 1,826
1972	54.0% 31,314	42.7% 24,766	3.3% 1,885
1968	34.7% 17,683	53.5% 27,271	11.8% 5,998
1964	30.4% 15,263	69.5% 34,930	0.1% 47
1960	40.9% 18,751	58.8% 26,977	0.3% 141
1956	41.7% 17,865	58.1% 24,903	0.2% 95
1952	42.4% 19,369	57.2% 26,130	0.5% 216
1948	33.7% 12,345	63.5% 23,257	2.8% 1,022
1944	29.8% 10,361	69.9% 24,335	0.3% 105
1940	28.5% 6,081	70.6% 15,054	0.9% 193
1936	20.9% 3,603	78.1% 13,459	1.1% 182
1932	30.3% 4,382	67.2% 9,712	2.5% 367
1928	52.3% 7,061	46.5% 6,278	1.2% 158
1924	48.0% 4,782	9.6% 957	42.4% 4,223
1920	64.8% 7,102	26.9% 2,954	8.3% 909

Solano is a strongly Democratic county in presidential and congressional elections, though it usually gives somewhat higher vote percentages to Republicans compared to the eight other Bay Area counties. The last Republican to win a majority in the county was Ronald Reagan in 1984.

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.

In the State Assembly Solano is in the 7th and 8th Assembly districts, which are held by Democrats Michael Allen and Mariko Yamada, respectively. In the California State Senate, Solano is part of the 2nd and 5th Senate districts, which are held by Democrats Noreen Evans and Lois Wolk, respectively.

On Nov. 4, 2008, Solano County voted 55.9% for Proposition 8, which amended the California Constitution to ban same-sex marriages. It was the only Bay Area county to approve the initiative. 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%).

According to the California Secretary of State, as of October 22, 2012, Solano County has 209,484 registered voters, out of 274,284 eligible (76.4%). Of those, 101,815 (48.6%) are registered Democrats, 52,777 (25.2%) are registered Republicans, and 45,581 (21.8%) have declined to state a political party. 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 Shag Slough north of Rio Vista. Rescuers from The Marine Mammal Center and other volunteers dismantled a county bridge before being able to turn him around in the narrow slough.

See also

• List of school districts in Solano County, California
• National Register of Historic Places listings in Solano County, California
• Solano County Library

External links

• Official website
• Munro-Fraser, J. P. (1879). History of Solano County. San Francisco, California: Wood, Alley & Co.  - An early history of Solano County
• Hiking trails in Solano County