Butte County, California


Butte County is a county in California. As of the 2010 census, the population was 220,000. The county seat is Oroville.
Butte County comprises the Chico, CA Metropolitan Statistical Area. It is in the California Central Valley, north of the state capital of Sacramento. Butte County is known as the "Land of Natural Wealth and Beauty."
Butte County is watered by the Feather River and the Sacramento River. Butte Creek and Big Chico Creek are additional perennial streams, both tributary to the Sacramento. The county is the home of California State University, Chico and of Butte College.
There are four major hospitals and the State of California defines Butte County as being inside Health Service Area 1. A special district, the Butte County Air Quality Management District, regulates airborne pollutant emissions in the county. It does this following regional regulations, state, and federal laws. For example, in recent years, the agency changed rules that once allowed residents to burn household trash outdoors.

History

Butte County is named for the Marysville Buttes in neighboring Sutter County; butte means "small knoll" or "small hill" in French. Butte County was incorporated as one of California's 19 original counties on 18 February 1850. The county went across the present limits of the Tehama, Plumas, Colusa, and Sutter counties. The first sheriff was Joseph Q. Wilbur.
Between November 8–25, 2018, a major wildfire, the "Camp Fire", destroyed most of the town of Paradise, the adjacent community of Concow, and many square miles of rural, hilly country east of Chico. More than eighty people were killed, fifty thousand were displaced, over 150,000 acres were burned, and nearly twenty thousand buildings were destroyed. The Camp Fire is California's most destructive and deadliest fire.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of, of which is land and is water.
The county is drained by the Feather River and Butte Creek. Part of the county's western border is formed by the Sacramento River. The county lies along the western slope of the Sierra Nevada, the steep slopes making it prime territory for the siting of hydroelectric power plants. About a half dozen of these plants are located in the county, one of which, serves the Oroville Dam which became severely stressed by overflow water in 2017, and which remains a concern today.

National protected areas

2011

Places by population, race, and income

2010

The 2010 United States Census reported that Butte County had a population of 220,000. The racial makeup of Butte County was 180,096 White, 3,415 African American, 4,395 Native American, 9,057 Asian, 452 Pacific Islander, 12,141 from other races, and 10,444 from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 31,116 persons.

2000

As of the census of 2000, there were 203,171 people, 79,566 households, and 49,410 families residing in the county. The population density was 124 people per square mile. There were 85,523 housing units at an average density of 52 per square mile. The racial makeup of the county was 84.5% White, 1.4% Black or African American, 1.9% Native American, 3.3% Asian, 0.2% Pacific Islander, 4.8% from other races, and 3.9% from two or more races. 10.5% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. 14.2% were of German, 11.1% English, 10.2% Irish, 7.8% American and 5.6% Italian ancestry according to Census 2000. 87.9% spoke English, 7.8% Spanish and 1.4% Hmong as their first language.
There were 79,566 households, out of which 28.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 46.7% were married couples living together, 11.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 37.9% were non-families. 27.2% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.48 and the average family size was 3.02.
In the county, the population was spread out, with 24.0% under the age of 18, 13.6% from 18 to 24, 24.8% from 25 to 44, 21.8% from 45 to 64, and 15.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females there were 96.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 92.6 males.
The median income for a household in the county was $31,924, and the median income for a family was $41,010. Males had a median income of $34,137 versus $25,393 for females. The per capita income for the county was $17,517. About 12.2% of families and 19.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 23.8% of those under age 18 and 7.3% of those age 65 or over.

Crime

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

Cities by population and crime rates

Government

Voter registration statistics

Cities by population and voter registration

Local

The citizens of the county of Butte are represented by the five member Butte County Board of Supervisors.

Tribal

The Berry Creek Rancheria of Tyme Maidu Indians of California is headquartered in Oroville. The Berry Creek Rancheria operates Gold Country Casino.
The Mooretown Rancheria of Maidu Indians of California is also headquartered in Oroville. The Mooretown Rancheria operates Feather Falls Casino.
The governmental headquarters of the Mechoopda Indian Tribe of Chico Rancheria is located in Chico.

State

Butte County is split between the 1st and 3rd Assembly districts, represented by and, respectively. The county is in.
According to the California Secretary of State, as of February 10, 2019, Butte County has 172,054 registered voters. Of those, 42,093 are registered Democrats, 41,330 are registered Republicans and 30,377 have declined to state a political party.
On November 4, 2008 Butte County voted 56.7% for Proposition 8 which amended the California Constitution to ban same-sex marriages.

Federal

Butte County is in.
Butte is a Republican-leaning county in Presidential and congressional elections. Lyndon Johnson in 1964 is the last Democrat to win a majority in the county ; however, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama won the county by plurality in 1992 and 2008, respectively.
YearGOPDEMOthers
201646.54% 45,14442.85% 41,56710.61% 10,291
201248.87% 44,47946.88% 42,6694.26% 3,873
200847.32% 46,70649.66% 49,0133.03% 2,988
200453.73% 51,66244.14% 42,4482.13% 2,047
200054.45% 45,58437.43% 31,3388.12% 6,799
199648.98% 38,96138.53% 30,65112.50% 9,938
199237.18% 31,60838.22% 32,48924.61% 20,917
198856.04% 40,14342.45% 30,4061.51% 1,082
198463.06% 45,38135.32% 25,4211.61% 1,162
198057.85% 38,18829.57% 19,52012.58% 8,304
197651.77% 28,40044.12% 24,2034.10% 2,251
197257.61% 28,81936.78% 18,4015.61% 2,808
196856.68% 22,22532.87% 12,88710.45% 4,099
196448.43% 19,57451.54% 20,8310.03% 14
196057.60% 20,83841.92% 15,1630.48% 174
195658.43% 18,38241.11% 12,9330.47% 147
195263.27% 19,24835.87% 10,9130.86% 263
194849.36% 10,94845.68% 10,1334.96% 1,100
194446.83% 7,85252.55% 8,8110.63% 105
194040.46% 7,43358.15% 10,6841.39% 255
193632.04% 5,10365.86% 10,4902.10% 335
193229.14% 4,32265.03% 9,6455.83% 865
192860.45% 6,30637.83% 3,9461.73% 180
192442.25% 4,38212.52% 1,29945.23% 4,691
192065.69% 5,40927.47% 2,2626.84% 563
191640.91% 3,95650.55% 4,8888.53% 825
19120.11% 1045.66% 4,02854.22% 4,784
190852.74% 3,09436.58% 2,14610.67% 626
190458.84% 2,79933.09% 1,5748.07% 384
190052.55% 2,32245.51% 2,0111.95% 86
189648.31% 2,07549.36% 2,1202.33% 100
189246.73% 2,18045.89% 2,1417.37% 344

Education

Public schools

There are roughly 90 public schools in the county according to the National Center for Educational Statistics. The schools are operated by the County Office of Education and 15 school districts, which are:
Butte County Library provides library services to residents of the County through six branches in Biggs, Chico, Durham, Gridley, Oroville and Paradise. The mission of the Butte County Library is to provide all individuals, regardless of age, ethnic background, educational or economic level, with free access to ideas, information, and technology.
For many years, the library served rural and mountain communities through regularly scheduled bookmobile visits; however, due to budget cuts, this service was discontinued in 2009 and the bookmobile was sold. The library serves low-literacy adults through several programs of the Butte County Library Literacy Services division, including the Adult Reading Program, Families for Literacy and the Literacy Coach, a vehicle that provides mobile programming like story times, parent meetings, workshops, and computer and teacher trainings.
The library operates as a department of the County of Butte, governed by the Butte County Board of Supervisors.

Transportation

Major highways

or the B-Line, provides service in and between Chico, Oroville, Paradise, Gridley and Biggs. Chico is also a connection point for Glenn Ride buses to Glenn County and Plumas Transit Systems buses to Plumas County.
Greyhound buses stop in Chico.
Amtrak's Coast Starlight passenger train makes a stop daily in each direction in Chico's Chico station.

Airports

General Aviation airports in Butte County include:

Cities

The population ranking of the following table is based on the 2010 census of Butte County.
† county seat
RankCity/Town/etc.Municipal typePopulation
1ChicoCity86,187
2ParadiseTown26,218
3† OrovilleCity15,546
4MagaliaCDP11,310
5Oroville EastCDP8,280
6ThermalitoCDP6,646
7GridleyCity6,584
8South OrovilleCDP5,742
9DurhamCDP5,518
10PalermoCDP5,382
11Kelly RidgeCDP2,544
12BiggsCity1,707
13Berry CreekCDP1,424
14Forest RanchCDP1,184
15Butte Creek CanyonCDP1,086
16Butte ValleyCDP899
17CohassetCDP847
18ConcowCDP710
19BangorCDP646
20HoncutCDP370
21Yankee HillCDP333
t-22ForbestownCDP320
t-22NordCDP320
23Stirling CityCDP295
24RichvaleCDP244
25RackerbyCDP204
26Berry Creek RancheriaAIAN152
27Clipper MillsCDP142
28Robinson MillCDP80
29CherokeeCDP69
30Butte MeadowsCDP40
31Enterprise RancheriaAIAN1

In popular culture

Several movies have been filmed in Butte County, including Gone with the Wind, The Outlaw Josey Wales, Friendly Persuasion, Magic Town, The Klansman, , The Adventures of Robin Hood and Under Wraps. The most recent season of the television series Sons of Anarchy features an episode in which the Sons come into contact with corrupt police in the fictional town of Eden, located in Butte County.