Contra Costa County, California

Contra Costa County Education, Geography, and History

Contra Costa County is a county located in the state of California. Based on the 2010 census, the population was 1,049,025. The county seat is Martinez. The County of Contra Costa, California (the "County") was created in 1850. The name is Spanish for "opposite coast", its located across San Francisco Bay from San Francisco.

Contra Costa County is included in the San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, CA Metropolitan Statistical Area. It occupies the northern portion of the East Bay region and is primarily suburban.

Etymology - Origin of Contra Costa  County Name

The name signifies "opposite coast," because it is situated opposite San Francisco, east, on San Francisco Bay. In 1853, Alameda County was formed from territory originally included in this county.

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: CensusBureau Quick Facts

Contra Costa County History

The County of Contra Costa, California (the "County") was incorporated in 1850 as one of the original 27 counties of the State of California (the "State"), with the City of Martinez as the County Seat. Contra Costa is  one of the nine counties in the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Area. The County is the ninth most populous county in California, with its population attaining approximately 1,051,677 as of January 1, 2008.

Geography: Land and Water

As reported by the Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 802 square miles (2,078 km²), of which, 720 square miles (1,865 km²) of it is land and 82 square miles (213 km²) of it (10.25%) is water.

 It is one of the nine counties in the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Area.

Neighboring Counties

Bordering counties are as follows:

• North: Solano County
• Northeast: Sacramento County
• East: San Joaquin County
• South: Alameda County
• West: San Francisco Bay; Marin County

Education

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