FAIRFIELD — Solano County’s profile may be defined as much by what happens outside its boundaries as it is by the internal qualities.
Groundwater management, the Delta, regional issues such as transportation and housing and the pressures created by federal and state decisions are all pushing on the 168-year-old county and its seven cities – the oldest of which is Benicia.
The county has a variety of personalities, often split between the coastal cities to the south and the more valley-like persona to the north. It is both a Delta and riparian county, yet boasts a healthy expanse of agricultural lands and designed natural open spaces.
Agriculture continues to be an important part of the county, both in terms of the $550 million economy it generates, and the historical cultural connection as the present grips onto its past.
But even that changes as the importance of one crop passes the importance of another from year to year, decade to decade. Agricultural tourism, and the blooming wine and beer industries, are a big part of that.
Solano covers 909.4 square miles, including 84.2 square miles of water area and 675.4 square miles of rural land area. It is also home to Travis Air Force Base.
Solano County had a total population of 429,552 as of the start of 2015, of which 19,348 residents lived outside the seven cities. The population is divided almost evenly by gender, with 50.3 percent female and 49.7 percent male.
The largest city continues to be Vallejo with 119,683. It was incorporated in 1868. Following Vallejo are Fairfield (1903) with 111,891 residents; Vacaville (1892) with 94,702; Suisun City (1868) with 28,888; Dixon (1878) with 19,158; and Rio Vista (1893) with 8,193 residents.
The median age is 36.9, according to 2010 census information.
The county’s population, however, is getting older, with 11.9 percent of residents over the age of 64, according to 2010 census information. That compares to 9.5 percent in that age group in 2000, 8.2 percent in 1990, 7.5 percent in 1980, 6.7 percent in 1970, 5.9 percent in 1960 and 4.9 percent in 1950.
Fairfield is the county seat despite being the youngest of all the cities. Benicia was the county seat until 1858.
The county has a general law form of government. Its five-member Board of Supervisors is elected by district for four-year terms of office.
It passed its first billion-dollar budget in June 2017, and backed that up with an even bigger fiscal blueprint in 2018.
Solano ranks 21st among the 58 counties in the state for population, with a birth rate of 66.1 per 1,000 female residents ages 15 to 44, according to the most recent information. The death rate is 725 per every 100,000 residents.
There are about 1,900 miles of roads and highways, the county reports, of which the county maintains 585.5 miles. The number of vehicles registered in the county is 371,534.
Oh, and the county owns 92 bridges.
