Placer County, California

Placer County is a place in the U.S. state of California. It is officially called the County of Placer. The main city, called the county seat, is Auburn.

Placer County is part of the larger Greater Sacramento metropolitan area. It is located in two important regions: the Sacramento Valley and the Sierra Nevada mountains. This area is famous as part of the Gold Country. The county stretches for about 65 miles, from the suburbs near Roseville to the border with Nevada and the shore of Lake Tahoe.

Etymology

Placer County was created in 1851 from parts of Sutter and Yuba Counties. Its name comes from a Spanish word for sand or gravel that contained gold. During the California gold rush, miners would wash away gravel to find gold. This process is called "placer mining". The county's main city is Auburn.

History

Gold mining was very important in Placer County in the 1880s. People also farmed the rich soil, cut timber, and worked for the Southern Pacific Railroad. Auburn became a town when Claude Chana found gold there in May 1848. It grew as a place to send and get supplies for nearby gold mines. The county courthouse in Auburn was built on July 4, 1894. After updates in the late 1980s, it still has courtrooms, a sheriff's office, and a museum.

Roseville started as a small farming town but became a big railroad center after the Southern Pacific Railroad moved there in 1908. It is now the largest city in the county. Other towns like Loomis, Newcastle, and Rocklin began with mining but later grew with farming and granite quarries. Lincoln and Sheridan are known for their farming and ranching. Lincoln is home to a very old clay factory that started in 1875.

The 1960 Winter Olympics took place in Olympic Valley, which is in Placer County.

Geography

Placer County is in California. It covers 1,502 square miles, with 1,407 square miles of land and 95 square miles of water. Important water areas include the American River and Bunch Creek. A big part of Lake Tahoe is also in Placer County.

The county has three main areas: South Placer in the valley and foothills, Gold Country around Auburn, Colfax, and Foresthill, and the Sierra Nevada mountains to the east. Most people live in South Placer, where Roseville is a major center. Auburn and Lincoln are also important towns.

Adjacent counties

• Nevada County - north
• Washoe County, Nevada - northeast
• Carson City, Nevada - east
• Douglas County, Nevada - southeast
• El Dorado County - south
• Sacramento County - southwest
• Sutter County - west
• Yuba County - northwest

National protected areas

• Eldorado National Forest in part
• Tahoe National Forest in part

Demographics

Placer County has many people living there. In 2020, the population was 404,739. Many of the residents were children under 18, and some were adults aged 65 or older. Most people lived in cities, while fewer lived in rural areas.

The racial makeup of the county was mostly White, with smaller groups of Black or African American, American Indian and Alaska Native, Asian, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander, and people from two or more races. Some residents identified as Hispanic or Latino.

Politics, government, and policing

Placer County has a board of supervisors with five members. They are elected for four years and choose a county manager to handle daily work.

The Placer County Sheriff's Office protects courts, manages the jail, and provides police services to areas without their own police. They help with investigations and work with the city of Colfax and the town of Loomis.

In the past, Placer County often voted for Republican candidates. Since 1980, it has supported Republican public officials and presidential candidates. In the U.S. House of Representatives, the county is part of California's 3rd district, represented by Kevin Kiley (I–Rocklin). In the California State Senate, the county is split among three districts. In the California State Assembly, it is also split among three districts.

Economy

Placer County has many jobs in different places. Some of the biggest places that employ people are listed in a report from 2010.

Placer County has a program called mPOWER Placer. This program helps people make their buildings use less energy and water. It started in March 2010 and is managed by the county’s Treasurer-Tax Collector’s Office.

Transportation

See also: Transportation in the Sacramento metropolitan area

Placer County has many roads to help people travel. These include Interstate 80 and state routes like State Route 28 and State Route 49.

The county has bus services through Placer County Transit. These buses run along Interstate 80 between Alta and connect to Sacramento Regional Transit in Sacramento. Roseville has its own local bus service and a route to Sacramento. There are also buses connecting Auburn to Grass Valley through Nevada County Connects. Services run in Truckee and Tahoe City along Lake Tahoe through Tahoe Truckee Area Regional Transit. For longer trips, people can use Greyhound and Amtrak.

For air travel, Placer County has three small airports for private planes: Lincoln Regional Airport, Auburn Airport, and Truckee-Tahoe Airport. The nearest large airport for commercial flights is Sacramento International Airport in Sacramento.

Communities

Placer County has several cities and towns. The cities include Auburn, the county seat, and also Colfax, Lincoln, Rocklin, and Roseville. There is one town named Loomis.

The county has many smaller places called census-designated places, such as Alta, Carnelian Bay, and Cedar Flat. There are also unincorporated communities like Applegate, Baxter, and Blue Canyon.

The list of these places uses data from the 2020 census.

Education

Placer County has many school districts that help children learn from kindergarten through high school. Some districts teach all grades, like the Center Joint Unified School District, Rocklin Unified School District, Tahoe-Truckee Unified School District, and Western Placer Unified School District. Others focus only on older students, such as Placer Union High School District and Roseville Joint Union High School District. There are also districts that only teach younger children, like Alta-Dutch Flat Union Elementary School District and Auburn Union Elementary School District. Some schools, like Twin Rivers Unified School District, only include certain parts of the county for grades 9 to 12.