Tolland County, Connecticut

Tolland County is a county located in the northeastern part of the U.S. state of Connecticut. As of the 2010 census, the population was 152,691. Tolland County is incorporated into thirteen towns and was originally formed on 13 October 1785 from portions of eastern Hartford County, Connecticut and western Windham County, Connecticut.

Tolland County is included in the Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, CT Metropolitan Statistical Area.

Counties in Connecticut have no governmental function: all legal power is vested in the state, city, and town governments. The office of High Sheriff in Connecticut counties was officially abolished by ballot in 2000, and corrections and court service were transferred to the state marshals. Tolland County has the same boundaries as the Tolland Judicial District.

Geography
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 417 square miles (1,080 km2), of which 410 square miles (1,100 km2) is land and 6.8 square miles (18 km2) (1.6%) is water. It is the second-smallest county in Connecticut by land area and smallest by total area.

Connecticut

 * Hartford County, Connecticut
 * New London County, Connecticut
 * Windham County, Connecticut

Massachusetts

 * Hampden County, Massachusetts
 * Worcester County, Massachusetts

Demographics
As of the 2010 United States Census, there were 152,691 people, 54,477 households, and 36,707 families residing in the county. The population density was 372.2 inhabitants per square mile (143.7/km2). There were 57,963 housing units at an average density of 141.3 per square mile (54.6/km2). The racial makeup of the county was 89.8% white, 3.4% Asian, 3.3% black or African American, 0.2% American Indian, 1.6% from other races, and 1.8% from two or more races. Those of Hispanic or Latino origin made up 4.3% of the population. In terms of ancestry, 22.0% were Irish, 16.8% were Italian, 14.3% were English, 14.2% were German, 10.6% were Polish, 5.6% were French Canadian, and 3.5% were American.

Of the 54,477 households, 31.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 54.9% were married couples living together, 8.6% had a female householder with no husband present, 32.6% were non-families, and 24.2% of all households were made up of individuals. The average household size was 2.51 and the average family size was 3.00. The median age was 38.3 years.

The median income for a household in the county was $77,175 and the median income for a family was $91,631. Males had a median income of $62,579 versus $46,818 for females. The per capita income for the county was $33,108. About 3.2% of families and 6.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 5.2% of those under age 18 and 4.6% of those age 65 or over.

Towns

 * Andover
 * Bolton
 * Columbia
 * Coventry
 * Ellington
 * Hebron
 * Mansfield
 * Somers
 * Stafford
 * Tolland
 * Union
 * Vernon
 * Willington

In popular culture
Tolland County is briefly referenced in the novel Moby-Dick by Herman Melville as the place that the ill-fated African-American shipmate, Pip, comes from.