Coos County, New Hampshire
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Coos County (pronounced "CO-ahss" with two syllables, and sometimes rendered as Coös County) is a county located in the U.S. state of New Hampshire. As of 2000, the population is 33,111.
Map_of_New_Hampshire_highlighting_Coos_County.png
Image:Map of New Hampshire highlighting Coos County.png
The county includes all of the northern one-third of the state's north-south extent, with beautiful mountain scenes and famous fall foliage. The county seat is Lancaster. Major industries are forestry and tourism. (The two-syllable pronunciation is sometimes made visible using diaeresis, notably in the Lancaster-based weekly newspaper The Coös County Democrat and on some county-owned vehicles.)
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History
Coos county was separated from the northern part of Grafton County, New Hampshire and organized at Berlin in 1803, although the county seat was later moved to Lancaster. The name derives from the Algonquian Indian term "Cohoss", meaning "pine trees" and referring to a major feature of the area.
Geography
The county includes the northern portion of the White Mountains, including all the summits of the Presidential Range, the most prominent of which is Mount Washington, the highest peak in New England and the Mid-Atlantic states. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 4,743 km² (1,831 mi²). 4,663 km² (1,800 mi²) of it is land and 80 km² (31 mi²) of it is water. The total area is 1.70% water.
Demographics
As of the census2 of 2000, there are 33,111 people, 13,961 households, and 9,158 families residing in the county. The population density is 7/km² (18/mi²). There are 19,623 housing units at an average density of 4/km² (11/mi²). The racial makeup of the county is 98.05% White, 0.12% Black or African American, 0.28% Native American, 0.37% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 0.16% from other races, and 1.00% from two or more races. 0.61% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race.
There are 13,961 households out of which 28.10% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 52.30% are married couples living together, 8.80% have a female householder with no husband present, and 34.40% are non-families. 28.80% of all households are made up of individuals and 14.10% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 2.33 and the average family size is 2.82.
In the county the population is spread out with 22.80% under the age of 18, 6.30% from 18 to 24, 26.70% from 25 to 44, 25.70% from 45 to 64, and 18.50% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 42 years. For every 100 females there are 95.60 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 92.60 males.
The median income for a household in the county is $33,593, and the median income for a family is $40,654. Males have a median income of $32,152 versus $21,088 for females. The per capita income for the county is $17,218. 10.00% of the population and 6.80% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 10.70% of those under the age of 18 and 12.50% of those 65 and older are living below the poverty line.
Cities, towns, villages, and unincorporated places*
- Atkinson & Gilmanton Academy Grant
- Bean's Purchase
- Berlin (former county seat, before economic decline and loss of population)
- Cambridge Township
- Carroll
- Chandler's Purchase
- Clarksville
- Colebrook
- Columbia
- Crawford's Purchase
- Cutt's Grant
- Dalton
- Dix's Grant
- Dixville Township
- Dixville Notch (village of Dixville Twp., best known of the small communities that cast the first dozens of votes in the national presidential primary process)
- Dummer
- Errol
- Erving's Location
- Gorham
- Green's Grant
- Groveton
- Hadley's Purchase
- Jefferson
- Kilkenny Township
- Lancaster
- Low and Burbank's Grant
- Martin's Location
- Milan
- Millsfield Township
- Northumberland
- Odell Township
- Pinkham's Grant
- Pittsburg
- Randolph
- Sargent's Purchase (location of Mount Washington summit and Tuckerman Ravine)
- Second College Grant
- Shelburne
- Stark
- Stewartstown
- Stratford
- Success Township
- Thompson and Meserve's Purchase
- Wentworth's Location
- Whitefield
* In New Hampshire, locations, grants, townships (which are different from towns), and purchases are unincorporated portions of a county which are not part on any town and have limited self-government (if any, as many are uninhabited). Villages are census divisions of towns or cities, but have no separate corporate existence from the municipality they are located in.
Mountains of Coos County
- Presidential Range
- White Mountains
- Mount Kelsey
- White Mountain National Forest
- White Mountain Region
External links
- Coos County web pages at the University of New Hampshire (http://www.ceinfo.unh.edu/Counties/Coos.htm)
- National Register of Historic Places listing for Coos County (http://www.nationalregisterofhistoricplaces.com/NH/Coos/districts.html)
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State of New Hampshire
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| Capital: | Concord |
| Regions: | Dartmouth Sunapee | Great North Woods | Lakes Region | Merrimack Valley | Monadnock | Seacoast |White Mountains |
| Major Metros: | Manchester | Nashua |
| Smaller Cities: | Berlin | Claremont | Concord | Dover | Franklin | Keene | Laconia | Lebanon | Portsmouth | Rochester | Somersworth |
| Counties: | Belknap | Carroll | Cheshire | Coos | Grafton | Hillsborough | Merrimack | Rockingham | Strafford | Sullivan |