Kings County is a county located in the Central Valley of the U.S. state of California. It is located in a rich agricultural region. Kings County is also home to NAS Lemoore, which is the U.S. Navy's newest and largest master jet air station. The county seat is Hanford. The United States Census Bureau also defines Kings County as encompassing the entire Hanford–Corcoran Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA Code 25260). The population was 129,461 at the time of the 2000 U.S. Census. However, the California Department of Finance estimates that the county's population had grown to 156,289 as of January 1, 2010. Kings County was formed in 1893 from the western part of Tulare County In 1909, by an act of the state legislature, 208 square miles (540 km2) of Fresno County territory was added to the northwest portion of Kings County. |