BUSINESS COMMENT
2
COAST RIVER BUSINESS JOURNAL
Publisher’s Notebook
Matt Winters • May 2022
It’s not your imagination: Our communities are growing
M
y friend Dian Barker-Sayce, now-retired vice president of
the Bank of the Pacifi c, and I used to almost rub our hands
in glee with each new release of census estimates and
other wonky demographic information. When you care
about our communities as we do, it’s gratifying to gain new insights
into how they are doing. Data turns hunches into knowledge.
It doesn’t take a crystal ball to know that the towns around the
Columbia River estuary and neighboring seashore are growing. Rol-
licking real estate sales and home construction are undeniable.
Between the April 1, 2020, c ensus and July 1, 2021, Clatsop
County added 738 full-time residents, climbing to a population just
under 42,000. The county had the sixth highest rate gain among Ore-
gon’s 36 counties and second highest among the 19 large counties with
populations of 40,000 or more, trailing only Deschutes County.
Deschutes is famously home to the growth juggernaut of Bend, so
for Clatsop to be mentioned in the same breath is startling.
The big nationwide headline out of the latest c ensus data is that
Clatsop County was the fastest growing county in northwest Or-
egon between 2020 and 2021, the U.S. Census Bureau reported.
Neighboring Pacifi c County experienced the ninth highest per-
centage increase among Washington state’s 39 counties.
deaths exceeded births in two-thirds of U.S. counties. This was true in
Clatsop, where there were 367 births to 488 deaths. It is only thanks to
in-migration of 848 that the population grew. Relocations from other
states accounted for nearly all growth. The same pattern held in Pacifi c
County, where deaths outnumbered births 399 to 167, and 720 new
residents moved in, of whom 96% were from elsewhere in the U.S.
Pacifi c County’s population rose by 2.5% from April 2020 to
July 2021, to nearly 24,000. In percentage terms, it grew ninth fast-
est among Washington state’s 39 counties. It was fi fth fastest in west-
ern Washington, trailing No. 1 San Juan Islands at 4.3%, and three
southwest Washington counties: Wahkiakum, 3.6%, Mason, 2.9%,
and Lewis, 2.7%. It’s interesting to see this growth spurt in the state’s
southwestern corner, which stalled out for decades after traditional for-
estry jobs evaporated.
July 1, 2020, was still early in the pandemic. It will be fascinating
to learn whether these trends are continuing. I suspect they are, though
at some point, growth may run into a lack of housing inventory. But if
even a fraction of current vacation home owners move here full time,
they will be welcome contributors to our society and economy.
Precision Heating customers in Washington
Never fear blackouts again
because of solar batteries
Did you
know?...
“If
ever w y a ou
solar, 2 nted
the ye 0 a 22 is
r!”
-Stan the
Solar Ma
n
Stanley Tussing and Charles Waddell
installing solar on Marsh’s Free Museum
CALL (360)642-4272
SOL
SAL AR
E!
You can use Solar power in the day, battery
power in the night, never fear a power outage
again. Battery prices have dropped 45% and the
huge rebates are going away this year.
PRECISION
HEATING
& Indoor Air Quality
360-642-4272
stan.tussing@gmail.com
www.usa-heating.com