Two agencies present divergent views of town’s population
Wednesday, January 2, 2008 10:55 AM PST
BAKER CITY (AP) — Either Baker City’s population is getting bigger, or it isn’t. Government agencies don’t agree.
Demographers at Portland State’s Population Research Center recently estimated the Eastern Oregon town’s population, as of July 1, at 10,105.
That’s up 245 people from the official U.S. Census figure for 2000 — which was 9,860.
But the Census Bureau itself estimates that Baker City’s population, as of 2006, is 9,648.
That’s down 212 from the 2000 Census, and about 457 lower than Portland State estimates.
Officials of the two agencies said they use different ways of arriving at their year-to-year estimates.
The Census Bureau includes births and deaths in its calculations, but Portland State does not.
According to Oregon Health Division statistics, about 230 more Baker County residents have died since 2000 than babies were born in the county.
A majority of that net decline in population is attributed to Baker City, because the city accounts for about 61 percent of the county’s population.
Other statistics, which PSU tallies, buttress its estimate.
For instance, since 2000 Baker City has issued permits for about 200 new housing units.
The two entities agree that Baker County has seen a population decline since the 2000 Census. Portland State numbers put the population at 16,435, a decline of 306 since 2000. The Census Bureau’s 2006 estimate is about 200 lower since the Census. One official disagrees with both estimates about the county.
‘’I can’t see that,” said Allen Phillips, longtime county tax assessor. “I’m inclined to think we’re stable or growing slightly.’’
During the 1990s, the population in unincorporated parts of the county grew, he said, and new homes in unincorporated neighborhoods in Baker Valley seem to have continued that trend.
