Does anyone love the census as much as I do? No. I love the census! It’s like getting to snoop on your neighbors, but your neighbors are the entire country.

Today is the day (and I know you’ve been counting down!) when the first 2010 census data for Oregon is released. Check out which Oregon counties gained population over the past ten years and which lost population (sorry, Eastern Oregon).


Okay, so the most interesting data isn’t out yet. 2010 was the first year that same sex couples could check “married” on the census and have it not treated as a typo… but we’ll have to wait till next November for the census to release those figures.

Sarah Shay Mirk reported on transportation, sex and gender issues, and politics at the Mercury from 2008-2013. They have gone on to make many things, including countless comics and several books.

5 replies on “Attention Wonks! Oregon Census Data Out!”

  1. It seems like the state could save some money by consolidating some of these counties. I mean seriously a county where less than 2000 people live??? That’s a gas station and a diner not a county.

  2. It looks like you’re talking about the 3 counties in north central oregon: Wheeler, Gilham, and Sherman.

    There was also a proposal to make a new Willamette county by merging multinomah, clackamas and washington counties. Perhaps we should just have like 10 big counties? I doubt there is much savings from doing that, however so leaving things as is probably is the financially prudent option

  3. Shiny data!

    I’ve thought a lot about what econoline mentioned, or at least a version of it. Non-dense areas seem to be, largely, inefficient. Green Metropolis by David Owen and other books like it make this point again and again. This is not a new observation by any means.

    But, wow, does it bother me how uneconomical not-cities tend to be. Seriously- this sticks in my craw, as they say, especially since the denizens of low-density areas are most likely to bitch about budgets.

  4. Fun fact: Wasco, Sherman and Gilliam counties combined their health departments into a single North Central Public Health District. I would imagine other government agencies are shared as well. They’re not exactly merging counties but they merged functions.

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