Lake

Formed May 20, 1861 (44^th county)

Lake County (68,158), Lakeport (4,753), Clearlake (15,250)

The Modern style building sits on Forbes Street between 2^nd and 3^rd streets.  California State Highway 29 bypasses the town 11 blocks to the west.  The facility was built in 1968 using the designs of James E. Prather and Robert W. Stevens.  The 1871 courthouse was located at the same location in Lakeport.  Lakeport has been the only county seat.  Lake County was created on May 20, 1861 from Napa County as the 44^th county.  Lake and Lakeport get their names from Clear Lake which dominates the county’s geography. 

The county is a fat necked bottle shape.  Lakeport is in the southwest quarter of the county.  Clearlake city is in the southeast quarter of the county.  Lakeport is the county seat and Clearlake is the largest city.  Lakeport is 7.0% of the county population while Clearlake is 22.4% of the county population.  Lake County government consists of a sheriff, assessor, controller, and treasurer (executive).  It has 5 Supervisors (legislative.)  Three Superior Court Judges, clerk, and counsel serve Lake County (judicial.)  The county is located in northwest California.  San Francisco, California is south and Sacramento, California is southeast of the county.  The county center is 13.9 miles East-Northeast of Lakeport nearer Lucerne.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Glenn, Colusa, Yolo, Napa, Sonoma, and Mendocino counties.  

The area of the county is 1258 square miles.  It is 38 out of 58 in the state.  It ranks 40 out of 58 in population in the state.  It has a density of 54.2 persons per square mile making it 37 out of 58 in the state.  Lake County has 31.9% of its population in its incorporated areas.  There are no Interstates or United States Highways in the county.  This county is in the Clearlake Micropolitan Statistical Area.