San Benito County, California

Before the arrival of the first European settlers, the San Benito County area was inhabited by the Mutsun sub-group of the Ohlone Native Americans. In 1772 Father Juan Crespí conducted a brief expedition into the area and named a small river which he found in honor of San Benito de Nursia (Saint Benedict), the patron saint of monasticism. The county was later named after the San Benito Valley, the valley surrounding this river. Thus it was from the Spanish version of the saint's name that the county eventually took its name.

In 1797 Spanish missionaries founded the first European settlement in the county as the San Juan Bautista mission. In 1848 the United States government gained control over what would soon become the state of California, which included the area now known as San Benito county. The town of New Idria was the next town to develop in the area and was founded ca. 1857. New Idria was centered around the New Idria Mercury Mine. When the mine played out fairly recently in 1972, New Idria was abandoned, and the town is now one of California's many ghost-towns.

The town of Hollister was next founded on November 19, 1868, by William Welles Hollister on the grounds of the former Mexican land-grant Rancho San Justo. In 1874 the California legislature formed San Benito County from a section of Monterey County while naming Hollister as the new county seat. Sections of Merced and Fresno Counties were also later reassigned to San Benito County in 1887 as a result of the growth of the New Idria community. Other towns in the county which were founded early in the county's history include Tres Pinos and Paicines.

File:Tumey Hills BLM.jpg

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of {{convert|1390|sqmi|km2}}, of which {{convert|1388|sqmi|km2|0}} is land and {{convert|1.8|sqmi}} is water (0.1%).{{cite web|url=http://www2.census.gov/geo/docs/maps-data/data/gazetteer/counties_list_06.txt|publisher=United States Census Bureau|access-date=October 4, 2015|date=August 22, 2012|title=2010 Census Gazetteer Files}} San Benito County contains nearly the entire length of the {{convert|109|mi|km}}-long San Benito River from the county's southwestern edge to its northwestern edge where it joins the Pajaro River.

Sharing a border with Santa Clara County, San Benito County lies adjacent to the San Francisco Bay Area and is sometimes considered a part of that region. Frequently, the county is associated with the Monterey Bay Area through governmental organizations such as the Association of Monterey Bay Area Governments as well as the Pajaro River, which flows from northern San Benito County into the Monterey Bay. The United States Census Bureau includes the county in the San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara MSA and the San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland CSA, which the Census uses as a statistical definition of the San Francisco Bay Area.

The county also borders Merced County and Fresno County on the east, which extend into California's San Joaquin Valley. It borders Santa Cruz County on the west and Monterey County on the southwest border.

The county is also the location of the Mount Harlan and San Benito American Viticultural Areas. The latter contains the Cienega Valley, Lime Kiln Valley, and Paicines AVAs.

Due to the varied topography, diverse geology, and varied climate from near-coastal to inland, San Benito County contains a high diversity of vegetation types. Common vegetation types include annual grasslands, coastal scrub, chaparral, and oak woodland.

In the county's extreme northwestern portion maritime fogs and cooler temperatures harbored coast redwoods (Sequoia sempervirens) historically, as evidenced by a description of the 1797 construction of Mission San Juan Bautista: "Redwood saplings, of convenient length and about six inches at the butt, were used for rafters;".{{cite book |title=History of San Benito County, California : with illustrations descriptive of its scenery, farms, residences, public buildings, factories, hotels, business houses, schools, churches, and mines: with biographical sketches of prominent citizens |publisher=Elliott & Moore |year=1881 |location=San Francisco, California |ISBN=9783337440282 |page=90 |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofsanbeni00elli/page/1/mode/2up |accessdate=June 12, 2025 }} In addition, two historical range maps show coast redwoods ranging into northwestern San Benito County, making the county one of five inland California counties, and one of 13 total California counties, which harbored redwoods historically.{{cite report |title=The distribution of forest trees in California. Res. Paper PSW-RP-82 |author=James R. Griffin, William B. Critchfield |year=1972 |publisher=Pacific Southwest Forest and Range Experiment Station, Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture |location=Berkeley, California |page=104 |url=https://research.fs.usda.gov/treesearch/28747 |accessdate=June 12, 2025 }}{{cite journal |title=Rangewide climatic sensitivities and non-timber values of tall Sequoia sempervirens forests |author=Stephen C. Sillett, Marie E. Antoine, Allyson L. Carroll, Mark E. Graham, Alana R.O. Chin, Robert Van Pelt |year=2022 |journal=Forest Ecology and Management |volume=526 |pages=120573 |url=https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2022.120573 |accessdate=June 12, 2025 }}

In the extreme southeastern portion of San Benito County at Panoche Valley, Panoche Hills, Tumey Hills, and Vallecitos, the climate is arid and part of the recently recognized San Joaquin Desert biome.{{cite journal | url=https://bioone.org/journals/natural-areas-journal/volume-31/issue-2/043.031.0206/The-San-Joaquin-Desert-of-California--Ecologically-Misunderstood-and/10.3375/043.031.0206.full | doi=10.3375/043.031.0206 | title=The San Joaquin Desert of California: Ecologically Misunderstood and Overlooked | year=2011 | last1=Germano | first1=David J. | last2=Rathbun | first2=Galen B. | last3=Saslaw | first3=Lawrence R. | last4=Cypher | first4=Brian L. | last5=Cypher | first5=Ellen A. | last6=Vredenburgh | first6=Larry M. | journal=Natural Areas Journal | volume=31 | issue=2 | pages=138–147 | s2cid=85723011 | url-access=subscription }} The flora there includes saltbush scrub, San Joaquin Desert scrub, and California juniper woodland. Panoche Hills navarretia (Navarretia panochensis){{Cite web|url=https://www.calflora.org/app/taxon?crn=13540|title=Navarretia panochensis Calflora|website=www.calflora.org|accessdate=March 16, 2023}} is nearly endemic to this small portion of the San Joaquin Desert in San Benito County.

At the highest elevations of San Benito County at Fremont Peak and San Benito Mountain, the average annual precipitation is high enough and the average annual temperature is cool enough to support mixed conifer forest. At San Benito Mountain, the high elevation climate and extreme geology of the New Idria serpentine, supports a unique mixed-conifer forest that includes foothill pine, Coulter pine, Jeffrey pine, and incense cedar. The extreme conditions of the serpentine soils of the New Idria serpentine mass support many rare local endemic plant species including San Benito evening primrose (Camissonia benitensis),{{Cite web|url=https://www.calflora.org/app/taxon?crn=1386|title=Camissonia benitensis Calflora|website=www.calflora.org|accessdate=March 16, 2023}} rayless layia (Layia discoidea),{{Cite web|url=https://www.calflora.org/entry/observ.html?track=o#srch=t&taxon=Layia+discoidea&inma=f&cch=t&cnabh=t&inat=r&chk=t|title=Observation Search - Calflora|website=www.calflora.org|accessdate=March 16, 2023}} Guirado's goldenrod (Solidago guiradonis),{{Cite web|url=https://www.calflora.org/app/taxon?crn=7673|title=Solidago guiradonis Calflora|website=www.calflora.org|accessdate=March 16, 2023}} and San Benito fritillary (Fritillaria viridea).{{Cite web|url=https://www.calflora.org/app/taxon?crn=3646|title=Fritillaria viridea Calflora|website=www.calflora.org|accessdate=March 16, 2023}}

The plant species Benitoa occidentalis{{cite web | url=https://www.calflora.org/app/taxon?crn=9730 | title=Benitoa occidentalis Calflora }} was named for San Benito County.{{Cite web|url=http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=103788|title=Benitoa in Flora of North America @ efloras.org|website=www.efloras.org|accessdate=March 16, 2023}} Camissonia benitensis, Monardella antonina subsp. benitensis,{{cite web | url=https://www.calflora.org/app/taxon?crn=5615 | title=Monardella antonina SSP. Benitensis Calflora }} and Arctostaphylos benitoensis{{cite web | url=https://www.calflora.org/app/taxon?crn=9685 | title=Arctostaphylos Xbenitoensis Calflora }} were named in recognition of their being endemic or near-endemic to San Benito County. The species Hollisteria lanata{{cite web | url=https://www.calflora.org/app/taxon?crn=4203 | title=Hollisteria lanata Calflora }} was named after William Welles Hollister, namesake of the city of Hollister.

Illacme plenipes, a millipede having more legs than any other millipede species, was discovered in the county in 1926.{{cite web|author=Sara Goudarzi |url=http://www.livescience.com/animals/060607_leggy_millipede.html |title=666-Legged Creature Rediscovered. |publisher=LiveScience |date=June 7, 2006}}

A California condor was found shot to death in the county on July 22, 2022, leading to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service posting a $5,000 reward for information on the killer.Jess Thomson [https://www.newsweek.com/critically-endangered-california-condor-shot-killed-1825295 (9 Sep 2023) Reward Offered to Find Who Killed Endangered California Condor]

• Pinnacles National Park

{{US Census population

|1880= 5584

|1890= 6412

|1900= 6633

|1910= 8041

|1920= 8995

|1930= 11311

|1940= 11392

|1950= 14370

|1960= 15396

|1970= 18226

|1980= 25005

|1990= 36697

|2000= 53234

|2010= 55269

|2020= 64209

|estyear=2024

|estimate=69159

|estref={{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/popest/data/tables.html|title=Annual Estimates of the Resident Population for Counties: April 1, 2020 to July 1, 2024|publisher=United States Census Bureau|access-date=May 10, 2025}}

|align-fn=center

|footnote=U.S. Decennial Census{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/prod/www/decennial.html|title=Census of Population and Housing from 1790-2000|publisher=US Census Bureau|access-date=January 24, 2022}}
1790–1960{{cite web|url=http://mapserver.lib.virginia.edu|title=Historical Census Browser|publisher=University of Virginia Library|access-date=October 4, 2015}} 1900–1990{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/population/cencounts/ca190090.txt|title=Population of Counties by Decennial Census: 1900 to 1990|publisher=United States Census Bureau|editor-last=Forstall|editor-first=Richard L.|date=March 27, 1995|access-date=October 4, 2015}}
1990–2000{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/population/www/cen2000/briefs/phc-t4/tables/tab02.pdf|title=Census 2000 PHC-T-4. Ranking Tables for Counties: 1990 and 2000|publisher=United States Census Bureau|date=April 2, 2001|access-date=October 4, 2015}} 2010 2020

}}

The 2010 United States census reported that San Benito County had a population of 55,269. The racial makeup of San Benito County was 35,181 (63.7%) White, 483 (0.9%) African American, 895 (1.6%) Native American, 1,443 (2.6%) Asian, 94 (0.2%) Pacific Islander, 14,471 (26.2%) from other races, and 2,702 (4.9%) from two or more races. There were 31,186 people of Hispanic or Latino origin, of any race (56.4%).{{USCensus2010CA}}

Population reported at 2010 United States census

As of the census{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov|publisher=United States Census Bureau|access-date=May 14, 2011|title=U.S. Census website}} of 2000, there were 53,234 people, 15,885 households, and 12,898 families residing in the county. The population density was {{convert|38|/mi2|/km2|disp=preunit|people |people}}. There were 16,499 housing units at an average density of {{convert|12|/mi2|/km2|disp=preunit|units |units|}}. The racial makeup of the county in 2010 was 38.3% non-Hispanic White, 0.6% non-Hispanic Black or African American, 0.4% Native American, 2.3% Asian, 0.1% Pacific Islander, 0.1% from other races, and 1.7% from two or more races. 56.4% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. 7.6% were of German, 6.3% Irish and 5.4% Italian ancestry according to Census 2000. 62.8% spoke only English at home, while 35.3% spoke Spanish. As of the 2010 census, San Benito County was the only county in the greater San Francisco Bay Area with a Hispanic majority.

There were 15,885 households, out of which 46.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 65.7% were married couples living together, 10.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 18.8% were non-families. 14.1% of all households were made up of individuals, and 5.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.32 and the average family size was 3.64.

In the county 32.2% of the population was under the age of 18, 8.8% from 18 to 24, 31.5% from 25 to 44, 19.3% from 45 to 64, and 8.1% was 65 years of age or older. The median age was 31 years. For every 100 females there were 102.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 99.6 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $57,469, and the median income for a family was $60,665. Males had a median income of $44,158 versus $29,524 for females. The per capita income for the county was $20,932. About 6.7% of families and 10.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 11.4% of those under age 18 and 8.5% of those age 65 or over.

{{clear}}

File:San Benito County Administration 1861.jpg.]]

County government is overseen by a five-member elected Board of Supervisors, who serve four-year terms of office. Other elected county leaders include:

• Assessor
• Clerk-Auditor-Recorder
• District Attorney
• Sheriff-Coroner
• Treasurer-Tax Collector-Public Administrator

San Benito County had the last elected Marshal in California until 2010 when the office closed. Shasta and Trinity Counties still have appointed Marshals.

In the United States House of Representatives, San Benito County is part of {{Representative|cacd|18|fmt=district}}.{{Cite GovTrack|CA|18|access-date=September 24, 2014}}

In the California State Legislature, San Benito County is in {{Representative|casd|17|fmt=sdistrict}}, and in {{Representative|caad|29|fmt=adistrict}}.{{Cite web

| url = https://statewidedatabase.org/gis/districtscomp.html

| title = Statewide Database

| publisher = UC Regents

| access-date = September 7, 2023}}

Eric S. Taylor is the 16th elected Sheriff-Coroner-Marshal of San Benito County. He was appointed on June 25, 2021, and was elected in June 2022. His term began on January 2, 2023. The San Benito County Sheriff provides law enforcement services, search and rescue, court security, marshal services, correctional facility operations and coroner service for the entire county. It provides patrol and detective services for the unincorporated areas of the county. Hollister (the County Seat) has a municipal police department. The Sheriff is contracted to provide law enforcement service to the incorporated City of San Juan Bautista.

San Benito is a Democratic-leaning county in Presidential and congressional elections. The last Republican to win a majority in the county was George H. W. Bush in 1988. San Benito is also considered a bellwether county for California in presidential elections; since 1904 the only candidates to carry the state without winning this county have been Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1944 and Harry S. Truman in 1948.Menendez, Albert J.; The Geography of Presidential Elections in the United States, 1868-2004, pp. 152-155 {{ISBN|0786422173}} The county's bellwether status goes beyond presidential politics to ballot initiatives and statewide candidates, as its election results mirror those of the state as a whole, as it straddles the major political fault lines of the state.{{Cite news |last=Rosenhall |first=Laurel |date=September 7, 2023 |title=Robert Rivas wants to use small-town charm to wield big political power in California. Will it work? |work=Los Angeles Times |url=https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-09-07/robert-rivas-california-assembly-speaker-rural-small-town-big-political-power}} Before 1904, however, it was a solidly Democratic county whilst the state leaned Republican, voting Democratic in every election from its creation in 1876 up to and including 1900, although California only voted Democratic in 1880 and 1892.

{{PresHead|place=San Benito County, California|source={{Cite web|url=http://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/|title=Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections|last=Leip|first=David|website=uselectionatlas.org|access-date=September 1, 2018}}|source2=This total comprised 1,054 votes for Progressive Theodore Roosevelt (who was official Republican nominee in California), 179 votes for Socialist Eugene V. Debs and 74 votes for Prohibition Party nominee Eugene W. Chafin.}}

{{PresRow|2024|Democratic|11,702|15,179|771|California}}

{{PresRow|2020|Democratic|10,590|17,628|612|California}}

{{PresRow|2016|Democratic|7,841|12,521|1,760|California}}

{{PresRow|2012|Democratic|7,343|11,276|462|California}}

{{PresRow|2008|Democratic|7,425|11,917|446|California}}

{{PresRow|2004|Democratic|8,698|9,851|176|California}}

{{PresRow|2000|Democratic|7,015|9,131|685|California}}

{{PresRow|1996|Democratic|5,384|7,030|1,492|California}}

{{PresRow|1992|Democratic|4,112|5,354|3,273|California}}

{{PresRow|1988|Republican|5,578|4,559|171|California}}

{{PresRow|1984|Republican|5,695|3,554|131|California}}

{{PresRow|1980|Republican|4,054|2,749|799|California}}

{{PresRow|1976|Republican|3,398|3,122|160|California}}

{{PresRow|1972|Republican|3,961|2,582|338|California}}

{{PresRow|1968|Republican|2,961|2,809|459|California}}

{{PresRow|1964|Democratic|2,444|3,779|14|California}}

{{PresRow|1960|Republican|3,056|2,876|13|California}}

{{PresRow|1956|Republican|3,252|2,201|10|California}}

{{PresRow|1952|Republican|3,733|1,968|22|California}}

{{PresRow|1948|Republican|2,775|2,096|116|California}}

{{PresRow|1944|Republican|2,253|1,998|16|California}}

{{PresRow|1940|Democratic|2,407|2,441|35|California}}

{{PresRow|1936|Democratic|1,515|2,565|62|California}}

{{PresRow|1932|Democratic|1,269|2,283|192|California}}

{{PresRow|1928|Republican|1,971|1,366|11|California}}

{{PresRow|1924|Republican|1,443|361|891|California}}

{{PresRow|1920|Republican|1,965|900|158|California}}

{{PresRow|1916|Democratic|1,440|1,688|131|California}}

{{PresRow|1912|Democratic|13|1,253|1,307|California}}

{{PresRow|1908|Republican|937|684|128|California}}

{{PresRow|1904|Republican|888|645|96|California}}

{{PresRow|1900|Democratic|724|786|40|California}}

{{PresRow|1896|Democratic|729|956|31|California}}

{{PresFoot|1892|Democratic|616|759|291|California}}

As of May 2010, the California Secretary of State reports that San Benito County has 34,562 eligible voters.{{citation needed|date=September 2018}} Of those 24,736 (71.57%) are registered voters. Of those, 11,959 (48.35%) are registered Democratic, 7,477 (30.23%) are registered Republican, 565 (2.28%)are registered American Independent, and 116 (0.47%) are Green Party. The two incorporated municipalities of Hollister and San Juan Bautista have Democratic majorities on their voter rolls, whereas the unincorporated areas of San Benito County have a small Republican plurality in voter registration.

{{Update|section|date=May 2025}}

The following table includes the number of incidents reported and the rate per 1,000 persons for each type of offense as of 2013.

The economy is statistically included in metro San Jose, though the dominant activity is agriculture. Agritourism is growing as the county has destination wineries, organic farms and quaint inns with views of cattle grazing. With concerns about how oil and gas operations could impact this sector of the economy and agriculture in general, the county voters approved a measure in 2014 that bans well stimulation techniques such as fracking, acidizing and steam injection, along with conventional drilling in some areas. In the 1950s, the oil drilling industry had many wells and the county is over the Monterey Shale formation but there is very little activity now.{{cite news|last1=Cart|first1=Julie|title=Election win puts rural San Benito County on anti-fracking map|url=http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-san-benito-fracking-20141129-story.html|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|date=November 29, 2014}}

According to the San Benito County Economic Development Corporation of San Benito County, the top employers in the county are:{{cite web|url=https://edcsanbenito.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Hollister-GPU-Market-Demand-Analysis-with-Memo-11-12-20.pdf|title=San Benito County Data from Hollister General Plan Update Market Demand Analysis Report|format=Memorandum |website=bae urban economics|date=January 20, 2021}}

San Benito County receives media in Monterey County, including the major Monterey County TV and radio stations.

The county also has several media outlets that serve the local community:

CMAP TV - Community Media Access Partnership, based in Gilroy, operates Channels 17, 18, 19 & 20 on Charter/Spectrum Cable as well as streaming online, offering public access and educational programming to Gilroy and San Benito County as well as offering live civic meetings, including county government.

• KMPG, at 1520 AM daytime, plays regional Mexican music;
• KQKE, at 97.5 FM, "The Quake" San Benito County Community Radio provides a low power signal.
• KHRI, at 90.7 FM, is an affiliate of Air 1 playing contemporary Christian music;
• KXSM, at 93.1 FM, broadcasts a regional Mexican format.
• K206BQ, at 89.1 FM, rebroadcasts KLVM.
• K265DG, at 100.9 FM, rebroadcasts KPRC-FM.

• The Hollister Free Lance, founded in 1873, is published weekly on Thursdays. The Freelance is now owned by New SV Media, Inc.and its main office is in Gilroy. New SV Media owns Good Times, Metro Silicon Valley, Pajaroan, Gilroy Dispatch, SantaCruz.com, King City Rustler and California Wheelin'.
• Mission Village Voice is a monthly paper based in San Juan Bautista. It is oriented toward arts, culture and community-wide events.

• [https://benitolink.com/ BenitoLink] is a nonprofit news website covering San Benito County, run by local and regional residents.
• [https://sanbenitolive.com/ San Benito Live] is a local news website, primarily focused on culture-related media.

• {{jct|state=CA|US|101}}
• {{jct|state=CA|SR|25}}
• {{jct|state=CA|SR|129}}
• {{jct|state=CA|SR|146}}
• {{jct|state=CA|SR|156}}

San Benito County Express provides fixed route service in the city of Hollister, and intercity service in the northern portion of the county. Service operates as far north as Gilroy, in Santa Clara County.

File:Hollister Municipal Airport photo D Ramey Logan.jpg

Hollister Municipal Airport is a general aviation airport located just north of Hollister.

• Hollister (county seat)
• San Juan Bautista

• Aromas
• Ridgemark
• Tres Pinos

{{div col}}

• Bitterwater
• Dunneville
• Hudner
• Paicines
• Panoche
• River Oaks
• San Benito
• Tres Pinos

{{div col end}}

• New Idria

The population ranking of the following table is based on the 2010 census of San Benito County.{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/decennial-census/decade.2010.html|title=This site has been redesigned and relocated. - U.S. Census Bureau|first=US Census Bureau|last=CNMP|website=www.census.gov}}

† county seat

• List of museums in the California Central Coast
• National Register of Historic Places listings in San Benito County, California
• George H. Moore, San Benito County district attorney

{{reflist|group=note}}

{{reflist|30em}}

{{Commons category}}

{{AmCyc Poster|San Benito}}

• {{Official website|https://www.cosb.us/}}
• [http://www.3rocks.org/san_benito/index.html History of San Benito County]

{{coord|36.61|-121.08|display=title|type:adm2nd_region:US-CA_source:UScensus1990}}

{{Geographic Location

| Centre = San Benito County, California

| North = Santa Clara County

| Northeast = Merced County

| East = Fresno County

| Southeast = Fresno County

| South = Monterey County

| Southwest = Monterey County

| West = Monterey County

| Northwest = Santa Cruz County

}}

{{San Benito County, California}}

{{California Central Coast}}

{{California}}

{{authority control}}

Category:California counties

Category:1874 establishments in California

Category:Populated places established in 1874

Category:Majority-minority counties in California