Erie County gets its name from Lake Erie, which gets its name from the Erie Indians, who lived south and east of the lake in the 1600's. The county seat is Buffalo....
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Erie County gets its name from Lake Erie, which gets its name from the Erie Indians, who lived south and east of the lake in the 1600's. The county seat is Buffalo.
Erie County is in the western portion of New York State, bordering on the lake of the same name. It is the most populous county in New York State outside of the New York City metropolitan area.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 1,227 square miles, of which, 1,044 square miles of it is land and 183 square miles of it (14.89%) is water. The northern border of the county is Tonawanda Creek. Part of the southern border is Cattaraugus Creek. Other major streams include Buffalo Creek (Buffalo River), Cayuga Creek, Cazenovia Creek, Scajaquada Creek, Eighteen Mile Creek and Ellicott Creek.
The county's northern half, including Buffalo and its suburbs, is relatively flat and rises gently up from the lake. The southern half is much hillier and is the northwesternmost foothills of the Appalachian Mountains.
The highest elevation in the county is a hill in the Town of Sardinia that tops out at around 1,940 feet above sea level. The lowest ground is about 560 feet, on Grand Island at the Niagara River.
As of the census of 2000, there were 950,265 people, 380,873 households, and 243,377 families residing in the county. The population density was 910 people per square mile. There were 415,868 housing units at an average density of 398 per square mile. The racial makeup of the county was 82.18% White, 13.00% Black or African American, 0.61% Native American, 1.46% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 1.42% from other races, and 1.31% from two or more races. 3.27% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. 19.6% were of German, 17.2% Polish, 14.9% Italian, 11.7% Irish and 5.0% English ancestry according to Census 2000. 91.1% spoke English, 3.0% Spanish and 1.6% Polish as their first language.
There were 380,873 households out of which 29.60% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 46.50% were married couples living together, 13.70% had a female householder with no husband present, and 36.10% were non-families. 30.50% of all households were made up of individuals and 12.50% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.41 and the average family size was 3.04.
In the county the population was spread out with 24.30% under the age of 18, 8.70% from 18 to 24, 28.40% from 25 to 44, 22.70% from 45 to 64, and 15.90% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females there were 91.60 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 87.80 males.
The median income for a household in the county was $38,567, and the median income for a family was $49,490. Males had a median income of $38,703 versus $26,510 for females. The per capita income for the county was $20,357. About 9.20% of families and 12.20% of the population were below the poverty line, including 17.30% of those under age 18 and 7.80% of those age 65 or over.
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