Iredell County was founded in 1788 and was named after James Irdell. It was broken off from Rowan County and is in west-central North Carolina. It is surrounded by Rowan, Cabarrus, Mecklenburg, Lincoln, Catawba, Alexander, Wilkes, Yadkin and Davie counties.
The population estimate for 2001 is 127,409 people, 82.2% of them being caucasian, and only 0.9% "reporting two or more races". 13.2% percent of the children in the county are below poverty level as of 1997. The average income of people in the county is around 24,000 dollars. The county has a land area of 576 square miles.
Irdell County is a leader in the product sales ranking for all of North Carolina. It came first for sales in the categories of "All Cattle", "Dairy Cattle", "Hay Production", and "Silage Corn". It came second in the categories of "Beef Cattle" and "Poultry". Statesville is the county seat and biggest town in the county, with a whopping 24,500 people
Source: http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/37/37097.html