Erlinsbach is a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

in the district of

Aarau Aarau (, ) is a List of towns in Switzerland, town, a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality, and the capital of the northern Swiss Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Aargau. The List of towns in Switzerland, town is also the capital of the d ...

of the

canton Canton may refer to: Administrative divisions * Canton (administrative division), territorial/administrative division in some countries * Township (Canada), known as ''canton'' in Canadian French Arts and entertainment * Canton (band), an It ...

Aargau Aargau ( ; ), more formally the Canton of Aargau (; ; ; ), is one of the Canton of Switzerland, 26 cantons forming the Switzerland, Swiss Confederation. It is composed of eleven districts and its capital is Aarau. Aargau is one of the most nort ...

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

History

Erlinsbach is first mentioned in 1173 as ''Arnlesbah''. In 1220 it was mentioned as ''Erndespah'' and in the 14th century it was known as ''Erlispach''. During the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

the

hamlets A hamlet is a human settlement that is smaller than a town or village. This is often simply an informal description of a smaller settlement or possibly a subdivision or satellite entity to a larger settlement. Sometimes a hamlet is defined f ...

of Obererlinsbach and Niedererlinsbach were part of Erlinsbach. They are now in the

Canton of Solothurn The canton of Solothurn or canton of Soleure (; ; ; ) is a Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Switzerland. It is located in the northwest of Switzerland. The capital is Solothurn. History The village of ''Salodurum'' was founded in the time of t ...

. In the 14th century, the hamlet of Edliswil was abandoned, however its exact location is currently unknown. In the 15th or 16th century, the hamlet of Hard was founded.

Geography

Erlinsbach has an area, , of . Of this area, 34.7% is used for agricultural purposes, while 53.8% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 10.6% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (0.9%) is non-productive (rivers or lakes). The municipality is located in the Aarau district between the

Aare The Aare () or Aar () is the main tributary of the High Rhine (its discharge even exceeds that of the latter at their confluence) and the longest river that both rises and ends entirely within Switzerland. Its total length from its source to i ...

river and

Jura Mountains The Jura Mountains ( ) are a sub-alpine mountain range a short distance north of the Western Alps and mainly demarcate a long part of the French–Swiss border. While the Jura range proper (" folded Jura", ) is located in France and Switzerla ...

on the border with the

. It is near the

Salhöhe Pass Salhöhe Pass (el. 779 m.) is a mountain pass in the Jura Mountains of Switzerland between Kienberg in the canton of Solothurn and Erlinsbach in the canton of Aargau. It connects Kienberg in Solothurn and Erlinsbach in Aargau. The pass road ...

, a regionally important route over the Jura Mountains. It consists of the village of Erlinsbach and the hamlet of Hard.

Coat of arms

The

blazon In heraldry and heraldic vexillology, a blazon is a formal description of a coat of arms, flag or similar emblem, from which the reader can reconstruct an accurate image. The verb ''to blazon'' means to create such a description. The visual d ...

of the municipal

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the last two being outer garments), originating in Europe. The coat of arms on an escutcheon f ...

is ''Divided by Bend wavy Argent in Or a Bend sinister Sable and Azure a Mullet of Five of the first.''

Demographics

Erlinsbach has a population (as of ) of . , 14.9% of the population was made up of foreign nationals.Statistical Department of Canton Aargau -Bereich 01 -Bevölkerung
accessed 20 January 2010 Over the last 10 years the population has grown at a rate of 8.1%. Most of the population () speaks German (90.3%), with Serbo-Croatian being second most common (2.7%) and Italian being third (1.7%).
accessed 22-January-2010 The age distribution, , in Erlinsbach is; 359 children or 10.3% of the population are between 0 and 9 years old and 384 teenagers or 11.0% are between 10 and 19. Of the adult population, 369 people or 10.6% of the population are between 20 and 29 years old. 391 people or 11.2% are between 30 and 39, 588 people or 16.9% are between 40 and 49, and 496 people or 14.2% are between 50 and 59. The senior population distribution is 444 people or 12.8% of the population are between 60 and 69 years old, 280 people or 8.0% are between 70 and 79, there are 147 people or 4.2% who are between 80 and 89, and there are 23 people or 0.7% who are 90 and older.Statistical Department of Canton Aargau -Bevölkerungsdaten für den Kanton Aargau und die Gemeinden (Archiv)
accessed 20 January 2010 , there were 57 homes with 1 or 2 persons in the household, 644 homes with 3 or 4 persons in the household, and 542 homes with 5 or more persons in the household. The average number of people per household was 2.43 individuals. there were 761 single family homes (or 50.4% of the total) out of a total of 1,509 homes and apartments.Statistical Department of Canton Aargau
accessed 20 January 2010 In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the SVP which received 36.2% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the FDP (18.2%), the SP (16.1%) and the CVP (9.3%). The entire Swiss population is generally well educated. In Erlinsbach about 75.6% of the population (between age 25 and 64) have completed either non-mandatory

upper secondary education Secondary education is the education level following primary education and preceding tertiary education. Level 2 or ''lower secondary education'' (less commonly ''junior secondary education'') is considered the second and final phase of basic e ...

or additional higher education (either university or a ''

Fachhochschule A (; plural ), abbreviated FH, is a university of applied sciences (UAS), in other words a Hochschule, German tertiary education institution that provides professional education in many applied sciences and applied arts, such as engineering, te ...

''). Of the school age population (), there are 468 students attending

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...

, there are 175 students attending

secondary school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...

in the municipality. The historical population is given in the following table:

Economy

, Erlinsbach had an unemployment rate of 1.42%. , there were 58 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 20 businesses involved in this sector. 122 people are employed in the

secondary sector In macroeconomics, the secondary sector of the economy is an economic sector in the three-sector theory that describes the role of manufacturing. It encompasses industries that produce a finished, usable product or are involved in constructi ...

and there are 24 businesses in this sector. 648 people are employed in the

tertiary sector The tertiary sector of the economy, generally known as the service sector, is the third of the three economic sectors in the three-sector model (also known as the economic cycle). The others are the primary sector (raw materials) and the ...

, with 68 businesses in this sector. there was a total of 1,677 workers who lived in the municipality. Of these, 1,355 or about 80.8% of the residents worked outside Erlinsbach while 373 people commuted into the municipality for work. There were a total of 695 jobs (of at least 6 hours per week) in the municipality.Statistical Department of Canton Aargau-Bereich 11 Verkehr und Nachrichtenwesen
accessed 21 January 2010

Religion

From the , 957 or 29.1% are

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

, while 1,593 or 48.5% belonged to the

Swiss Reformed Church The Protestant Church in Switzerland (PCS), formerly named Federation of Swiss Protestant Churches until 31 December 2019, is a federation of 25 member churches – 24 cantonal churches and the Evangelical-Methodist Church of Switzerland. The P ...

. Of the rest of the population, there are 12 individuals (or about 0.37% of the population) who belong to the Christian Catholic faith.Statistical Department of Canton Aargau - Aargauer Zahlen 2009
accessed 20 January 2010

References

External links

* {{Authority control