[6] Monterey County comprises the Salinas, California, Metropolitan Statistical Area.

Scenic features along the coastline - including Carmel-by-the-Sea, Big Sur, State Route 1, and the 17 Mile Drive on the Monterey Peninsula - have made the county famous around the world.

Back when California was under Spanish and Mexican rule, the city of Monterey was its capital.

miles; 29,000 ha) to drilling in San Benito, Monterey, and Fresno counties.

[9] Monterey County has habitat to support the following endangered species: Generally, the western/southern parts of the Monterey Peninsula, Carmel Valley, Creekbridge (Salinas), and eastern parts of Prunedale were the county's most affluent and educated (see dark blue on map).

[22] Social deprivation (poverty and low levels of educational attainment) was concentrated in the central and eastern parts of Salinas, and central areas of Monterey, Seaside, Marina, Soledad and King City.

In central and eastern Salinas up to 46% of individuals lived below the poverty line and those without a secondary educations formed a plurality or majority of residents.

[19][20] Least affluent neighborhoods (Median Household Income of $34.1k or less)[20][23] * Asterisk denotes a hypothetical rank among Monterey County's 226 Census Block Groups (e.g. if the U.S. overall was a Census Block Group in Monterey County, it would be the 86th poorest of 226).

The racial makeup of Monterey County was 230,717 (55.6%) White, 12,785 (3.1%) African American, 5,464 (1.3%) Native American, 25,258 (6.1%) Asian (2.8% Filipino, 0.7% Korean, 0.6% Chinese, 0.6% Japanese, 0.4% Vietnamese, 0.4% Indian), 2,071 (0.5%) Pacific Islander, 117,405 (28.3%) from other races, and 21,357 (5.1%) from two or more races.

Hispanic or Latino of any race were 230,003 persons (55.4%); 50.2% of Monterey County is Mexican, 0.8% Salvadoran, and 0.5% Puerto Rican.

[34][35] Supervisorial district boundaries are divided roughly equally according to population, using data from the most recent census.

[36] In addition, any redistricting changes should approximately comply with both California law as well as the federal Voting Rights Act.

[40] As the northernmost supervisorial district in Monterey County, the 2nd District includes the communities of Boronda, Castroville, Las Lomas, Moss Landing, Pajaro, Prunedale, Royal Oaks, the northern neighborhoods of the city of Salinas, and those portions of the community of Aromas that are located within Monterey County.

The 5th District includes the cities of Carmel-by-the-Sea, Monterey, and Pacific Grove; the unincorporated communities of Carmel Valley, Big Sur, Pebble Beach, San Benancio, Corral de Tierra, and Jamesburg; military installations at the Presidio of Monterey, the Defense Language Institute, and the Naval Postgraduate School; and the Ventana Wilderness area of the Los Padres National Forest.

From 1900 until 1992, the only Democrats to carry the county were Woodrow Wilson, Franklin Roosevelt, and Lyndon Johnson.

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

Television service for the community comes from the Monterey-Salinas-Santa Cruz designated market area (DMA).

Radio stations Monterey-Salinas-Santa Cruz area of dominant influence (ADI) or continuous measurement market (CMM).

In the northern, more densely populated part in the county, the median home price was even higher, at $712,500, making it the fourth most expensive housing market in California.

[57] Monterey County is served by Amtrak trains and Greyhound Lines buses.

MST also runs service to San Jose, California in Santa Clara County.