Before the arrival of the first European settlers, the San Benito County area was inhabited by theMutsun sub-group of theOhloneNative Americans. In 1772 FatherJuan Crespí conducted a brief expedition into the area and named a small river which he found in honor of San Benito de Nursia (Saint Benedict), the patron saint of monasticism. The county was later named after theSan Benito Valley, the valley surrounding this river. Thus it was from the Spanish version of the saint's name that the county eventually took its name.
In 1797 Spanish missionaries founded the first European settlement in the county as theSan Juan Bautista mission. In 1848 theUnited States government gained control over what would soon become the state ofCalifornia, which included the area now known as San Benito county. The town ofNew Idria was the next town to develop in the area and was founded ca. 1857. New Idria was centered around theNew Idria Mercury Mine. When the mine played out fairly recently in 1972, New Idria was abandoned, and the town is now one of California's many ghost-towns.
The town ofHollister was next founded on November 19, 1868, byWilliam Welles Hollister on the grounds of the formerMexican land-grantRancho San Justo. In 1874 the California legislature formed San Benito County from a section ofMonterey County while naming Hollister as the new county seat. Sections ofMerced andFresno Counties were also later reassigned to San Benito County in 1887 as a result of the growth of the New Idria community. Other towns in the county which were founded early in the county's history includeTres Pinos andPaicines.
Tumey Hills BLM recreation area, near Interstate 5
According to theU.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 1,390 square miles (3,600 km2), of which 1,388 square miles (3,595 km2) is land and 1.8 square miles (4.7 km2) is water (0.1%).[6] San Benito County contains nearly the entire length of the 109 miles (175 km)-longSan Benito River from the county's southwestern edge to its northwestern edge where it joins thePajaro River.
The county also bordersMerced County andFresno County on the east, which extend into California'sSan Joaquin Valley. It borders Santa Cruz County on the west and Monterey County on the southwest border.
Due to the varied topography, diverse geology, and varied climate from near-coastal to inland, San Benito County contains a high diversity of vegetation types. Common vegetation types include annual grasslands,coastal scrub,chaparral, andoak woodland.
In the county's extreme northwestern portion maritime fogs and cooler temperatures harboredcoast redwoods (Sequoia sempervirens) historically, as evidenced by a description of the 1797 construction ofMission San Juan Bautista: "Redwood saplings, of convenient length and about six inches at the butt, were used for rafters;".[7] In addition, two historical range maps show coast redwoods ranging into northwestern San Benito County, making the county one of five inland California counties, and one of 13 total California counties, which harbored redwoods historically.[8][9]
In the extreme southeastern portion of San Benito County at Panoche Valley,Panoche Hills,Tumey Hills, and Vallecitos, the climate is arid and part of the recently recognized San Joaquin Desert biome.[10] The flora there includes saltbush scrub, San Joaquin Desert scrub, and California juniper woodland. Panoche Hills navarretia (Navarretia panochensis)[11] is nearly endemic to this small portion of the San Joaquin Desert in San Benito County.
At the highest elevations of San Benito County atFremont Peak andSan Benito Mountain, the average annual precipitation is high enough and the average annual temperature is cool enough to support mixed conifer forest. At San Benito Mountain, the high elevation climate and extreme geology of theNew Idria serpentine, supports a unique mixed-conifer forest that includesfoothill pine,Coulter pine,Jeffrey pine, andincense cedar. The extreme conditions of theserpentine soils of the New Idria serpentine mass support many rare localendemic plant species including San Benito evening primrose (Camissonia benitensis),[12] rayless layia (Layia discoidea),[13] Guirado's goldenrod (Solidago guiradonis),[14] and San Benito fritillary (Fritillaria viridea).[15]
As of the2020 census, the county had a population of 64,209 and a median age of 36.6 years. 25.4% of residents were under the age of 18 and 13.6% of residents were 65 years of age or older, while for every 100 females there were 99.0 males and, for every 100 females age 18 and over, 97.8 males.[30]
77.3% of residents lived in urban areas, while 22.7% lived in rural areas.[32]
There were 19,484 households in the county, of which 43.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them and 20.4% had a female householder with no spouse or partner present. About 14.9% of all households were made up of individuals and 7.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.[30]
There were 20,365 housing units, of which 4.3% were vacant. Among occupied housing units, 67.2% were owner-occupied and 32.8% were renter-occupied. The homeowner vacancy rate was 1.1% and the rental vacancy rate was 2.5%.[30]
San Benito 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.
As of thecensus[41] of 2000, there were 53,234 people, 15,885 households, and 12,898 families residing in the county. Thepopulation density was 38 people per square mile (15 people/km2). There were 16,499 housing units at an average density of 12 units per square mile (4.6 units/km2). The racial makeup of the county in 2010 was 38.3% non-HispanicWhite, 0.6% non-HispanicBlack orAfrican American, 0.4%Native American, 2.3%Asian, 0.1%Pacific Islander, 0.1% fromother races, and 1.7% from two or more races. 56.4% of the population wereHispanic orLatino of any race. 7.6% were ofGerman, 6.3%Irish and 5.4%Italian ancestry according toCensus 2000. 62.8% spoke onlyEnglish at home, while 35.3% spokeSpanish. As of the2010 census, San Benito County was the only county in the greaterSan Francisco Bay Area with a Hispanic majority.
There were 15,885 households, out of which 46.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 65.7% weremarried couples living together, 10.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 18.8% were non-families. 14.1% of all households were made up of individuals, and 5.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.32 and the average family size was 3.64.
In the county 32.2% of the population was under the age of 18, 8.8% from 18 to 24, 31.5% from 25 to 44, 19.3% from 45 to 64, and 8.1% was 65 years of age or older. The median age was 31 years. For every 100 females there were 102.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 99.6 males.
The median income for a household in the county was $57,469, and the median income for a family was $60,665. Males had a median income of $44,158 versus $29,524 for females. Theper capita income for the county was $20,932. About 6.7% of families and 10.0% of the population were below thepoverty line, including 11.4% of those under age 18 and 8.5% of those age 65 or over.
County government is overseen by a five-member elected Board of Supervisors, who serve four-year terms of office. Other elected county leaders include:
Assessor
Clerk-Auditor-Recorder
District Attorney
Sheriff-Coroner
Treasurer-Tax Collector-Public Administrator
San Benito County had the last elected Marshal in California until 2010 when the office closed. Shasta and Trinity Counties still have appointed Marshals.
Eric S. Taylor is the 16th elected Sheriff-Coroner-Marshal of San Benito County. He was appointed on June 25, 2021, and was elected in June 2022. His term began on January 2, 2023. The San Benito County Sheriff provides law enforcement services, search and rescue, court security, marshal services, correctional facility operations and coroner service for the entire county. It provides patrol and detective services for the unincorporated areas of the county. Hollister (the County Seat) has a municipal police department. The Sheriff is contracted to provide law enforcement service to the incorporated City of San Juan Bautista.
San Benito is aDemocratic-leaning county inPresidential andcongressional elections. The last Republican to win a majority in the county wasGeorge H. W. Bush in1988. San Benito is also considered a bellwether county for California in presidential elections; since 1904 the only candidates to carry the state without winning this county have beenFranklin D. Roosevelt in1944 andHarry S. Truman in1948.[44] The county's bellwether status goes beyond presidential politics to ballot initiatives and statewide candidates, as its election results mirror those of the state as a whole, as it straddles the major political fault lines of the state.[45] Before 1904, however, it was a solidly Democratic county whilst the state leaned Republican, voting Democratic in every election from its creation in 1876 up to and including 1900, although California only voted Democratic in1880 and1892.[44]
United States presidential election results for San Benito County, California[46][note 1]
As of May 2010, the California Secretary of State reports that San Benito County has 34,562 eligible voters.[citation needed] Of those 24,736 (71.57%) are registered voters. Of those, 11,959 (48.35%) are registered Democratic, 7,477 (30.23%) are registered Republican, 565 (2.28%)are registered American Independent, and 116 (0.47%) are Green Party. The two incorporated municipalities of Hollister and San Juan Bautista have Democratic majorities on their voter rolls, whereas the unincorporated areas of San Benito County have a small Republican plurality in voter registration.
The economy is statistically included in metro San Jose, though the dominant activity is agriculture.Agritourism is growing as the county has destination wineries, organic farms and quaint inns with views of cattle grazing. With concerns about how oil and gas operations could impact this sector of the economy and agriculture in general, the county voters approved a measure in 2014 that banswell stimulation techniques such asfracking, acidizing and steam injection, along with conventional drilling in some areas. In the 1950s, the oil drilling industry had many wells and the county is over theMonterey Shale formation but there is very little activity now.[52]
CMAP TV - Community Media Access Partnership, based in Gilroy, operates Channels 17, 18, 19 & 20 on Charter/Spectrum Cable as well as streaming online, offering public access and educational programming to Gilroy and San Benito County as well as offering live civic meetings, including county government.
TheHollister Free Lance, founded in 1873, is published weekly on Thursdays. The Freelance is now owned by New SV Media, Inc.and its main office is inGilroy. New SV Media owns Good Times, Metro Silicon Valley, Pajaroan, Gilroy Dispatch, SantaCruz.com, King City Rustler and California Wheelin'.
Mission Village Voice is a monthly paper based in San Juan Bautista. It is oriented toward arts, culture and community-wide events.
San Benito County Express provides fixed route service in the city of Hollister, and intercity service in the northern portion of the county. Service operates as far north asGilroy, inSanta Clara County.
^James R. Griffin, William B. Critchfield (1972).The distribution of forest trees in California. Res. Paper PSW-RP-82 (Report). Berkeley, California: Pacific Southwest Forest and Range Experiment Station, Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture. p. 104. RetrievedJune 12, 2025.
^abcU.S. Census Bureau. American Community Survey, 2011 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, Table B02001.U.S. Census website. Retrieved October 26, 2013.
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