OLMIS

by Guy Tauer
Published Sep-1-2010

Population by Ethnicity Population by Race

Earlier this year, the U.S. Census Bureau released their population estimates by age, race and ethnicity. Along with estimates by age, the Census is the only source of race and ethnicity data. These data can be found at www.census.gov. Look for the "people and households" section of the homepage. Click on the "estimates" link. Then click on "estimates data." Choose the geography detail you want and then choose "characteristics" to explore this data in more detail.

Jackson County's 2009 population was estimated at 201,286. This differs slightly from Portland State University's Population Research Center estimates, which put the population total at 207,010. Josephine County's population estimate for 2009 was 81,026, also slightly less than PSU's estimate for 2009, which was 83,665. The 2010 Census data will provide the most complete count of people, wiping away both of these published, estimated figures. Data include ethnicity, broken out by

Hispanic or non-Hispanic population. Population by race data is either by five or six categories. This article uses the five-category data set.

The Census Bureau data estimates there were 18,985 Hispanic persons in Jackson County in 2009, representing 9.4 percent of the total population. In 2000, Hispanic persons comprised 6.7 percent of the county's population. From 2000 to 2009, Jackson County's non-Hispanic population increased by 7.5 percent, while the Hispanic population increased by 54.9 percent. The number of non-Hispanics increased by 12,758 over that time, while the Hispanic population rose by 6,730.

Hispanic persons represented 5.7 percent of Josephine County's population in 2009, up from 4.3 percent of the total in 2000. Between 2000 and 2009, Josephine's non-Hispanic population increased by 3,792 residents, or an increase of 5.2 percent. Over that time, the Hispanic population increased by 1,395 residents, for a gain of 43 percent. Graph 1 and Graph 2 show Jackson and Josephine counties' population by ethnicity trends from 2000 to 2009.

Looking at Rogue Valley population by race, Census Bureau estimates show that about 95 of 100 residents are "white alone." Less than three of 100 are two or more races. Only about 1 in 100 in the Rogue Valley are Asian alone, Black or African American alone, or American Indian or Native Alaskan alone. The percentages have not changed much since year 2000 Census data. Graph 3 and Graph 4 show population by race estimates for Jackson and Josephine counties, respectively. More detail is available from the Census website, such as race and ethnicity by age group for various geographic areas.