Census Data Shows Not Much Change in Edmonds

Although views may have changed, streets widened and buildings added, results released today by the U.S. Census Bureau show that the Edmonds of 2010 was pretty much the Edmonds of 2000, statistically speaking.

Edmonds’ population showed a gain of 194 residents, as its population grew from 39,515 in 2000 to 39,709 in 2010. Those figures are for the city of Edmonds only and don’t reflect portions of Snohomish County that may have Edmonds addresses, such as the Esperance area.

“I’m not surprised at the small amount of growth,” said Edmonds Mayor Mike Cooper. “Except for a few lots here and there, we don’t have any room to grow.”

Snohomish County’s population grew 17.7 percent from 2000 to 2010.

Of the 39,709 residents in Edmonds, 81 percent of them, 32,323, are 18 and over. “We’re a stable community where people come to stay,” said Cooper. “That’s why we have a little older population.”

In 2000, the figure was 79.4 percent. In 2010, 83.4 percent of Edmonds’ residents were white, opposed to 87.7 percent in 2000. The percentage of black or African-American residents remained a small percentage, 2.6 percent, but it doubled 2000’s 1.3 percent. Asian residents increased from 5. 6 percent to 7.1 percent. And the percentage of residents who identified themselves as Hispanic or Latino increased from 3.3 percent to 5.3 percent.

Census numbers showed Edmonds with 18,378 total housing units in 2010. Of that number, 17,381, or 94.6 percent, were occupied housing units and 997, or 5.4 percent, were vacant housing units. The total housing units is up from 17,508 in 2000, when occupied housing units numbered 16,904, or 96.6 percent, and vacant housing units numbered 604, or 3.4 percent.

Cooper said he wasn't suprised at the 2 percent increase in vacant housing units, which he attributed to the economy.

Although there wasn't much growth in Edmonds, Washington state grew faster than most of the country in the past decade, reaching 6,724,540 residents in 2010, the Census Bureau reported in December. That’s up 14 percent from the last U.S. census in 2000 and makes Washington the 13^th most populous state in the country, up from 15^th. The growth rate by percentage also made Washington the 13^th fastest growing state.

Washington also grew faster than the country as a whole. The U.S. population in 2010 was 308.7 million, up nearly 10 percent from 2000.

The state is slightly more diverse, with 77 percent of the population identifying themselves as white, as opposed to 82 percent in 2000. The Hispanic and Latino population grew the fastest, rising 71 percent to about three-quarters of a million people. That group makes up about 11 percent of the state’s population, up from 7.5 percent in 2000.

Among people who identified themselves as one race, the population of native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders grew the fastest, up 69 percent. Asians grew 49 percent; blacks grew 26 percent; American Indian and Alaska natives grew 11 percent; and the white population rose just under 8 percent. People who identified themselves as “some other race” rose 53 percent.

People who identified themselves as two or more races rose 47 percent. They’re still just a small portion of the population, at about 313,000, or just under 5 percent.

Along with the 6.72 million Washington residents, another 28,829 people who call Washington state home live overseas, serving in the military or as federal civilian employees (including their dependents). That boosts the state’s apportionment population to 6,753,369. That’s the figure used to determine how many seats the state gets in the House of Representatives. Based on that number, the state gets one new seat.