7.1: California’s Counties

On January 4, 1850, a committee of California’s first constitutional convention, chaired by General Mariano Vallejo, recommended the creation of eighteen counties. They were Benicia, Butte, Fremont, Los Angeles, Mariposa, Monterey, Mt. Diablo, Oro, Redding, Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco, San Joaquin, San Jose, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Sonoma, and Sutter.

Between January 4 and February 18, 1850, the California legislature added nine counties to the list recommended by General Vallejo’s committee, some of the changes based on additional recommendations by the committee. The nine added counties were Branciforte, Calaveras, Coloma, Colusi, Marin, Mendocino, Napa, Trinity, and Yuba. This brought the total number of counties to 27. The legislature also approved several name changes. Benicia was renamed El Dorado, Fremont was renamed Yola, Mt. Diablo was renamed Contra Costa, San Jose was renamed Santa Clara, Oro was renamed Tuolumne, and Redding was renamed Shasta.

Effective February 18, 1850, twenty-seven counties were created in California. The new counties were Branciforte, Butte, Calaveras, Colusi, Contra Costa, El Dorado, Los Angeles, Marin, Mariposa, Mendocino, Monterey, Napa, Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco, San Joaquin, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Santa Clara, Solano, Sonoma, Sutter, Trinity, Tuolumne, Yola, and Yuba.

In early 1850, not long after the legislature adopted its first statute creating counties, new statutes were adopted changing some county names. Branciforte was changed to Santa Cruz, Colusi was changed to Colusa, and Yola was changed to Yolo. By 1960 these were further sub-divided to form sixteen additional counties, making 43 in total. Another fourteen counties were formed through further subdivision from 1861 to 1893, and most recent county to form was Imperial County, in 1907. California is currently divided into 58 counties.

California is home to San Bernardino County, the largest county in the contiguous United States, as well as Los Angeles County, the most populous county in the United States.

Figure 7.2: California’s Counties Grouped by Economic Regions. California economic regions map (labeled and colored) by Wikimedia Users Thadius856 and Optigan13 is in the public domain.

California counties are general law counties which means that they operate within the framework of general laws passed by the state legislature and signed by the governor. These laws dictate many aspects of county government, but may be chartered as provided in Article XI, Section 3 of the California Constitution. A charter county is granted limited home rule powers. Of the 58 counties in California, 14 are governed under a charter. They are Alameda, Butte, El Dorado, Fresno, Los Angeles, Orange, Placer, Sacramento, San Bernardino, San Diego, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, and Tehama.

A fun fact; nine counties in California are named for Saints, tied with Louisiana for the largest number.

Defunct Counties

The current county names in California have historical and cultural meaning, lest we do not forget the defunct counties that have historical importance as well. Here is a list of forgotten counties that either were merged, cut, or renamed.

• Branciforte County was the original name of Santa Cruz County in 1850. The county was given the name of "Branciforte" after the Spanish pueblo founded there in 1797. A major watercourse in the county, Branciforte Creek, still bears this name. Less than two months later, on April 5, 1850, the name was changed to Santa Cruz, meaning "Holy Cross".
• Klamath County was created in 1851 from the northern half of Trinity County. Part of the county's territory went to Del Norte County in 1857, and in 1874 the remainder was divided between Humboldt and Siskiyou counties.
• Pautah County, California was created in 1852 out of territory which, the state of California assumed, was to be ceded to it by the United States Congress from territory in what is now the state of Nevada. When the cession never occurred, the California State Legislature officially abolished the never-organized county in 1859.
• Buena Vista County was created in 1855 by the California State Legislature out of the southeastern territory of Tulare County on the west of the Sierra Nevada but was never officially organized. The south of Tulare County was later organized as Kern County in 1866, with additions from Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties.
• Coso County was created in 1864 by the California State Legislature out of territory of Mono County and Tulare County on the east slope of the Sierra Nevada but was never officially organized. The region was later organized in 1866 as Inyo County with additions from Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties.
• Roop County, Nevada encompassed much of Lassen County, including the Honey Lake Valley and the community of Susanville, California; ambiguous organic legislation of Nevada Territory led to confusion about the geographic extent of Nevada's western border. This was later clarified, with the portions of Roop County in California being assigned to Lassen County; the remaining, sparsely portions of Roop County were eventually combined with Washoe County, Nevada.