Sutter County is a

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

located in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. As of the 2020 census, the population was 99,633. The

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

Yuba City Yuba City (Maidu: ''Yubu'') is a city in Northern California and the county seat of Sutter County, California, United States. The population was 70,117 at the 2020 census. Yuba City is the principal city of the Yuba City Metropolitan Statistical ...

. Sutter County is included in the Yuba City, CA Metropolitan Statistical Area as well as the

Sacramento Sacramento ( or ; ; ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the seat of Sacramento County. Located at the confluence of the Sacramento and American Rivers in Northern California's Sacramento Valley, Sacramento's 2020 p ...

- Roseville, CA Combined Statistical Area. The county is located along the

Sacramento River The Sacramento River () is the principal river of Northern California in the United States and is the largest river in California. Rising in the Klamath Mountains, the river flows south for before reaching the Sacramento–San Joaquin River D ...

in the

Sacramento Valley The Sacramento Valley is the area of the Central Valley of the U.S. state of California that lies north of the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta and is drained by the Sacramento River. It encompasses all or parts of ten Northern California ...

History

The

Maidu The Maidu are a Native Americans in the United States, Native American people of northern California. They reside in the central Sierra Nevada (U.S.), Sierra Nevada, in the watershed area of the Feather River, Feather and American River, American ...

were the people living in the area of Sutter County when European settlers arrived. Sutter County was one of the original counties of California, created in 1850 at the time of statehood. Parts of the county were given to

Placer County Placer County ( ; ''Placer'', Spanish language, Spanish for "sand deposit"), officially the County of Placer, is a County (United States), county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was ...

in 1852. Sutter County is named after

John Augustus Sutter John Augustus Sutter (February 23, 1803 – June 18, 1880), born Johann August Sutter and known in Spanish as Don Juan Sutter, was a Swiss immigrant who became a Mexican and later an American citizen, known for establishing Sutter's Fort in th ...

, a German native born to Swiss parents. He was one of the first Europeans to recognize the Sacramento Valley for its potential in agriculture. His Hock Farm, established in 1841 on the Feather River just south of present-day Yuba City, was the site of the first major farm in the Central Valley, and used extensive slave labor from Natives in order to function. Sutter obtained the

Rancho New Helvetia New Helvetia (Spanish: Nueva Helvetia), meaning "New Switzerland", was a 19th-century Alta California settlement and rancho, centered in present-day Sacramento, California. Colony of Nueva Helvetia The Swiss pioneer John Sutter (1803–1880) ...

Mexican land grant, and called his first settlement

New Helvetia New Helvetia ( Spanish: Nueva Helvetia), meaning "New Switzerland", was a 19th-century Alta California settlement and rancho, centered in present-day Sacramento, California. Colony of Nueva Helvetia The Swiss pioneer John Sutter (1803–1880 ...

(which included the present day city of Sacramento). In 1850, Sutter retired to Hock Farm when the

gold rush A gold rush or gold fever is a discovery of gold—sometimes accompanied by other precious metals and rare-earth minerals—that brings an onrush of miners seeking their fortune. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, ...

led to him losing his holdings in Sacramento. Sutter County is the birthplace (Yuba City, 1858) of

John Joseph Montgomery John Joseph Montgomery (February 15, 1858 – October 31, 1911) was an American inventor, physicist, engineer, and professor at Santa Clara University in Santa Clara, California, who is best known for his invention of controlled heavier-than-ai ...

, who was the first American to successfully pilot a heavier-than-air craft, 20 years before the Wright Brothers, and who held the first patent for an "aeroplane." In the 1890s, Sutter County was one of the two prohibition counties in California; the other was Riverside County. Both outlawed saloons and sale or consumption of alcohol in public.

Geography

According to the

U.S. Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The U.S. Census Bureau is part of the U ...

, the county has a total area of , of which is land and , comprising 1.0%, is water. It is the fourth-smallest county in California by total area. Some 88 percent of the county is prime farmland and grazing land. Sutter County is home to the

Sutter Buttes The Sutter Buttes (Maiduan languages, Maidu: ''Histum Yani'' or ''Esto Yamani'', Wintuan languages, Wintun: ''Olonai-Tol'', Nisenan language, Nisenan: ''Estom Yanim'') are a small circular complex of eroded volcanic lava domes which rise as but ...

, known as the "World's Smallest Mountain Range." This volcanic formation provides relief to the otherwise seemingly flat Sacramento Valley. Bordered by the

on the west and the

Feather River The Feather River is the principal tributary of the Sacramento River, in the Sacramento Valley of Northern California. The river's main stem is about long. Its length to its most distant headwater tributary is just over . The main stem Feather ...

on the east, Sutter County has of levees. The

Sutter Bypass The Sutter Basin is a area of the Sacramento Valley in the U.S. state of California, and is part of the Feather River drainage basin. The basin includes the Sutter Basin Fire Protection District of ~ and uses irrigation from the Thermalito Afterba ...

, which diverts flood waters from the Sacramento River, cuts through the heart of Sutter County.

Adjacent counties

* Butte County - north * Yuba County - east *

- southeast *

Sacramento County Sacramento County () is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 1,585,055. Its county seat is Sacramento, which has been the state capital of California since 1854. Sacrament ...

- south *

Yolo County Yolo County (; Wintun: ''Yo-loy''), officially the County of Yolo, is a county located in the northern portion of the U.S. state of California. Yolo County was one of the original counties of California, created in 1850 at the time of statehood ...

- southwest * Colusa County - west

National protected areas

* Butte Sink National Wildlife Refuge (part) * Sutter National Wildlife Refuge Sutter County also has the State Feather River Wildlife Area, consisting of the Nelson Slough, O'Connor Lakes, Abbott Lake, Shanghai Bend, and Morse Road Units in Sutter County. Also, a State Park in the Sutter Buttes. In addition, there are the state public trust lands of the Feather, Bear and Sacramento rivers as well as smaller streams including Butte Creek and Butte Slough.

Transportation

Major highways

State Route 20 * California 70

State Route 70 * California 99

State Route 99 * California 113

State Route 113

Public transportation

Yuba Sutter Transit operates local bus service, as well as commuter runs to Downtown Sacramento. The Amtrak Thruway 3 bus also provides daily connections to/from Sacramento.

Airports

Sutter County Airport is a general aviation airport located just south of Yuba City. The closest major airport is in

Politics

Voter registration statistics

Cities by population and voter registration

Overview

Sutter is a strongly Republican county in presidential and

congressional A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ad ...

elections. The last Democrat to win the county was

Franklin Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one to have served ...

1940 A calendar from 1940 according to the Gregorian calendar, factoring in the dates of Easter and related holidays, cannot be used again until the year 5280. Events Below, events related to World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January *Janu ...

. It was the only county in the whole state to give a majority to

George H. W. Bush George Herbert Walker BushBefore the outcome of the 2000 United States presidential election, he was usually referred to simply as "George Bush" but became more commonly known as "George H. W. Bush", "Bush Senior," "Bush 41," and even "Bush th ...

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

. In the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...

, Sutter County is in . In the

California State Legislature The California State Legislature is the bicameral state legislature of the U.S. state of California, consisting of the California State Assembly (lower house with 80 members) and the California State Senate (upper house with 40 members). ...

, the county is in , and . On November 4, 2008, Sutter County voted 70.7% for

Proposition 8 Proposition 8, known informally as Prop 8, was a California ballot proposition and a state constitutional amendment intended to ban same-sex marriage. It passed in the November 2008 California state elections and was later overturned by the ...

which amended the California Constitution to ban same-sex marriages.

Crime

The following table includes the number of incidents reported and the rate per 1,000 persons for each type of offense.

Demographics

2020 census

2011

Places by population, race, and income

2010

The 2010 United States census reported that Sutter County had a population of 94,737. The racial makeup of Sutter County was 57,749 (61.0%)

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 1,919 (2.0%)

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 1,365 (1.4%) Native American, 13,663 (14.4%) Asian, 281 (0.3%)

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

, 14,463 (15.3%) from other races, and 5,297 (5.6%) from two or more races.

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race were 27,251 persons (28.8%).

2000

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2000, there were 78,930 people, 27,033 households, and 19,950 families residing in the county. The population density was . There were 28,319 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 67.5%

, 1.9%

Black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

, 1.6% Native American, 11.3% Asian, 0.2%

, 13.0% from other races, and 4.6% from two or more races. 22.2% of the population were

or Latino of any race. 10.3% were of

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

, 9.0% American, 7.1% English and 6.1% Irish ancestry according to Census 2000. 70.3% spoke English, 17.9%

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

and 9.3% Punjabi as their first language. There were 27,033 households, out of which 37.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 57.0% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

living together, 11.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 26.2% were non-families. 21.2% of all households were made up of individuals, and 8.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.87 and the average family size was 3.35. In the county, the population was spread out, with 29.0% under the age of 18, 9.2% from 18 to 24, 28.2% from 25 to 44, 21.3% from 45 to 64, and 12.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females, there were 98.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 94.3 males. The

median income The median income is the income amount that divides a population into two groups, half having an income above that amount, and half having an income below that amount. It may differ from the mean (or average) income. Both of these are ways of unde ...

for a household in the county was $38,375, and the median income for a family was $44,330. Males had a median income of $35,723 versus $25,778 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the county was $17,428. About 12.1% of families and 15.5% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 21.3% of those under age 18 and 7.7% of those age 65 or over.

Media

Sutter County is in the Sacramento television market, and thus receives Sacramento media.

Communities

Cities

Live Oak Live oak or evergreen oak is any of a number of oaks in several different sections of the genus ''Quercus'' that share the characteristic of evergreen foliage. These oaks are generally not more closely related to each other than they are to o ...

(county seat)

Census-designated places

* East Nicolaus * Meridian * Nicolaus * Rio Oso * Robbins * Sutter *

Trowbridge Trowbridge ( ) is the county town of Wiltshire, England; situated on the River Biss in the west of the county, close to the border with Somerset. The town lies south-east of Bath, Somerset, Bath, south-west of Swindon and south-east of Brist ...

Unincorporated communities

* Encinal * Pleasant Grove * South Yuba City * Tierra Buena * Tudor * Wilson

Proposed town

* Sutter Pointe

Population ranking

The population ranking of the following table is based on the 2010 census of Sutter County. † ''county seat''

Notes

References

External links

* {{Coord, 39.04, -121.69, display=title, type:adm2nd_region:US-CA_source:UScensus1990 1850 establishments in California California counties Populated places established in 1850 Sacramento Valley Counties in the Sacramento metropolitan area Majority-minority counties in California