[3] York County is part of the Portland–South Portland, Maine Metropolitan Statistical Area.

The first patent establishing the Province of Maine was granted on August 10, 1622, to Ferdinando Gorges and John Mason by the Plymouth Council for New England, which itself had been granted a royal patent by James I to the coast of North America between the 40th and the 48th parallels "from sea to sea".

With the King's blessing, Levett embarked on a scheme to found a colony on the site of present-day Portland.

There he proposed to found a settlement named York after the city of his birth in England.

One part of Levett's scheme did survive: the name of York, which now adorns the county.

The now-decommissioned Fort Levett on Cushing Island in Casco Bay is named for Capt.

The second colony also foundered for lack of money and settlers, although it survived the death of Gorges in 1647.

The first known and recorded offer for a purchase of land in York County is in 1668, when Francis Small traded goods with the Newichewannock tribe of this area.

Their Chief Wesumbe, also known as Captain Sandy, was friendly with Small and warned him of a plot against his life.

A group of renegade tribesmen planned on murdering Small instead of paying him with the furs that were owed to him.

Known now as the five Ossipee towns, the tract included all of Limington, Limerick, Cornish (formerly named Francisborough), Newfield and Parsonsfield.

When Massachusetts adopted its state government in 1780, it created the District of Maine to manage its eastern territories.

As of the 2010 United States census, there were 197,131 people, 81,009 households, and 53,136 families living in the county.

[13] In terms of ancestry, 22.3% were English, 19.3% were Irish, 9.8% were French Canadian, 8.1% were German, 7.9% were Italian, 5.8% were American, and 5.6% were Scottish.

At the same time, it has voted for Republican Senator Susan Collins in all of her reelection campaigns, most recently in 2020.