Census estimates new county demographics

Some time yesterday the United States's population went over the 300 million mark.

To mark that occasion, the U.S. Census Bureau has updated its census data for every city and county across the nation, in part using new data available to it and in part extrapolating from trends, or not adjusting the old data.

According to the latest data updated on Aug. 15, the Census Bureau says Elmore County's population has increased by only 500 people since 2000, up to 29,130 citizens, of which 16,077 are male and 13,053 are female (the national averages are 49.1 percent males and 50.9 percent females).

The census bureau estimates that 7.1 percent of the county's population are senior citizens, compared to the national average of 12.4 percent.

The numbers apparently include base personnel, since the Census Bureau lists 4,060 people as living in "group quarters," a 13.9 percent rate that is significantly higher than the national rate of 2.8 percent.

Only 57.4 percent of the 10,527 housing units in the county (9,092 of which are occupied), are owned by the people living in them according to the August update. That's well below the national rate of 66.2 percent. The other occupied housing units are rented.

Of the 17,034 residents who are age 25 or older, 87.2 percent have a high school diploma, which is higher than the 80.4 percent national rate, but only 17.3 percent have a college bachelor's degree or higher, which is lower than the 24.4 percent national rate.

Not unsurprisingly, civilian veterans account for 39.1 percent of the county's population, well above the 12.7 percent national average.

And 13.2 percent of the county's population speaks some other language than English as their primary language (here it is primarily Spanish), which is well below the national rate of 17.9 percent.

Economically, only 61.2 percent of the labor force, defined as those over age 16, have jobs, slightly less than the 63.9 percent national rate. In Mountain Home, itself, 72.9 percent of the local labor force was employed, according to the latest figures.

The average household income for the county (in 1999 dollars) was $35,256, about $6,000 below the national average, and the per capital income was $16,773, about $5,000 below the current national average. The 2000 census had listed average household income at $36,639, and per capital income at $16,773.

A total of 11.2 percent of the population was living below the poverty level, slightly less than the 12.4 percent national average, and a little below the 11.7 percent reported in the 2000 census (when the national rate was 11.8 percent).

The average value of a single-family home, according to the August update, was $93,200, unchanged since the 2000 census, but well below the national average of $119,600 (which was up from $106,300 in 2000).