Chapter 1: Regions and Themes

Photo Courtesy of: http://www.villamarinelifestylescalifornia.com/page/California_Central_Valley_Hotels_Attractions

There are 12 main regions in the state of California. Merced is located in the heart of the Central Valley region which is surrounded by the High Sierra region, the Central Coast Region, the Gold County region, and the San Francisco Bay Area region. As you can see, Merced really is the "bellybutton" of California meaning that it is located almost right in the middle of the state.Click here for  Info on all 12 Regions.

	White persons, percent, 2011 (a)	82.1%	74.0%
	Black persons, percent, 2011 (a)	4.3%	6.6%
	American Indian and Alaska Native persons, percent, 2011 (a)	2.4%	1.7%
	Asian persons, percent, 2011 (a)	7.9%	13.6%
	Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander persons, percent, 2011 (a)	0.4%	0.5%
	Persons reporting two or more races, percent, 2011	2.9%	3.6%
	Persons of Hispanic or Latino Origin, percent, 2011 (b)	55.7%	38.1%
	White persons not Hispanic, percent, 2011	31.3%	39.7%

Statistics Courtesy of The United States Census Bureau, 2010. The column on the left are number for just Merced County and the column on the right are numbers for the entire state of California.

An important theme in Merced is the diversity of cultures and nationalities. According to the United States Census Bureau, Merced County is home to 82.1% White persons, and 55.7% of Hispanic or Lations. Between these two extreme numbers lies many other small numbers of different nationalities.