As of the2020 census, the population was 281,202.[6], and for the 2024 census, the population was 296,774.[7] The county seat isMerced.[8] The county is named after theMerced River.
The county derives its name from theMerced River, orEl Río de Nuestra Señora de la Merced (River of Our Lady of Mercy), named in 1806 by an expedition headed byGabriel Moraga, which came upon it at the end of a hot dusty ride on theEl Camino Viejo across the San Joaquin Valley in Spanish colonialLas Californias Province.
According to theU.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 1,979 square miles (5,130 km2), of which 1,935 square miles (5,010 km2) is land and 44 square miles (110 km2) (2.2%) is water.[9]
As of the2020 census, the county had a population of 281,202. The median age was 32.0 years. 28.8% of residents were under the age of 18 and 11.9% of residents were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 99.6 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 97.7 males age 18 and over.[17]
83.2% of residents lived in urban areas, while 16.8% lived in rural areas.[19]
There were 83,464 households in the county, of which 45.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them and 25.2% had a female householder with no spouse or partner present. About 17.2% of all households were made up of individuals and 7.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.[17]
There were 87,783 housing units, of which 4.9% were vacant. Among occupied housing units, 54.7% were owner-occupied and 45.3% were renter-occupied. The homeowner vacancy rate was 1.1% and the rental vacancy rate was 3.9%.[17]
Merced County, California – Racial and ethnic composition 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 may be of any race.
There were 63,815 households, out of which 45.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 57.8% weremarried couples living together, 14.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 22.0% were non-families. 17.7% of all households were made up of individuals, and 7.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.25 and the average family size was 3.69.
In the county, the population was spread out, with 34.5% under the age of 18, 10.3% from 18 to 24, 27.9% from 25 to 44, 17.8% from 45 to 64, and 9.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 29 years. For every 100 females there were 99.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 96.6 males.
The median income for a household in the county was $35,532, and the median income for a family was $38,009. Males had a median income of $31,721 versus $23,911 for females. Theper capita income for the county was $14,257. About 16.9% of families and 21.7% of the population were below thepoverty line, including 28.4% of those under age 18 and 10.7% of those age 65 or over.
As of 2008, according to the Lao Family Community, a nonprofit organization, about 8,000Hmong lived in Merced County.[29]
Merced County is a California Constitution defined general law county and is governed by an elected Board of Supervisors. The Board consists of five members, elected by districts, who serve four-year staggered terms.[30]
The Merced County Sheriff's Office provides court protection, jail administration, and coroner service for the entire county. It provides patrol, detective, and other police services for the unincorporated parts of the county. The main sheriff station and offices are at Merced. There are two sheriff's substations. A Grand Jury report in 2010 stated that the Sheriff processed 12,746 average jail bookings per year with an average daily jail population of 1,123.[31]
Municipal police departments in the county are: Merced, population 83,000; Los Banos, population 38,000; Atwater, population 30,000; Livingston, population 13,000; Gustine, population 6,000; Dos Palos, population 5,500.
Trump's win in Merced County made it one of ten counties in California to flip fromBiden toTrump, as well as making Merced one of six counties to vote for the Republican presidential candidate for the first time in 20 years sinceGeorge W. Bush in2004. DemocratBarack Obama won a majority in the county in both2008 and2012. Before that, RepublicanGeorge W. Bush won a majority in the county in both2000 and2004.
United States presidential election results for Merced County, California[37][note 2]
According to the California Secretary of State, as of October 20, 2008, there were 97,179 registered voters in Merced County.[citation needed] Of those, 44,704 (46.0%) are registered Democratic, 35,955 (37.0%) are registered Republican, 3,090 (3.2%) are registered with other political parties, and 13,430 (13.8%) declined to state a political party.Atwater and the county's unincorporated areas have Republican plurality registration advantages. All of the other cities and towns in the county have Democratic pluralities or majorities in voter registration. Merced County has seen a rightward tilt in recent years, voting "Yes" in the2021 gubernatorial recall election despite voting for GovernorGavin Newsom by a margin of 4% in2018. The county then voted for Republican nomineeBrian Dahle in2022 over Newsom, as well as for all Republican nominees for statewide office.
Merced County voted in favor ofProposition 8 in 2008 (which banned same-sex marriage by constitutional amendment) and voted againstProposition 3 in 2024 (which repealed Proposition 8). The level of support in the county for retaining the ban shrank from 70.8% in 2008 to 50.2% in 2024.
According to America's Labor Market Information System 2014 report,[41] the companies with the largest employment in Merced are, in alphabetical order:
Merced County grows 90% of California'ssweet potato crop,[42] due in part to the efforts of John Buttencourt Avila, called "the father of the sweet potato industry".
^abcU.S. Census Bureau. American Community Survey, 2011 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, Table B02001.U.S. Census website. Retrieved October 26, 2013.
A Memorial and Biographical History of the Counties of Merced, Stanislaus, Calaveras, Tuolumne and Mariposa, California. Chicago: Lewis Publishing Co., 1892.
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