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PDC profiles Mid-Multnomah County’s Gateway district

Gateway District grows more populous, more affluent, and more racially diverse, but under educated

LEE PERLMAN
THE MID-COUNTY MEMO

Mid-Multnomah County’s Gateway area is younger, has larger families and is more racially diverse than the rest of Portland. It isn’t as rich, but it’s catching up.

These are some of the findings of a recent study by the Portland Development Commission, part of a “housing strategy” the agency is putting together for the area.

The area studied took in a larger territory than the 130-acre Gateway Urban Renewal District. PDC’s study area extended from Southeast and Northeast 82nd to 162nd Avenues, and from Division to Halsey Streets east of 122nd Avenue, as far north as Northeast Skidmore Street west of the I-205 Freeway. The data came primarily from the year 2000 census.

* From 1990 to 2000 the total population of this area increased from 50,525 to 58,625, or 16 percent. Proportionally this was less than the growth rate for the city as a whole (21 percent). However, in some ways Gateway is growing faster than Portland. For instance, there are now almost 3,000 more children under 18 in the area, and they make up nearly a quarter of the population. There was a net loss in the number of people 55 to 64, and while the older population increased, its share of the total population dropped. For the city as a whole the proportion of children dropped; so did the number of middle-aged and seniors, but not as fast as Gateway.

* There were more than 800 new households with five or more people between the two counts, an increase of more than 50 percent, while there was a net decrease in two-person households. The city saw increases in households of all sizes, but more among smaller household units.

* There were 3300 fewer households in Gateway earning less than $35,000 a year than there were in 1990. Conversely, those earning $50,000 a year or more increased dramatically, moving from 14 percent of the population to 35.4. Still, Gateway lagged behind the rest of the city, where this income group increased from 17.4 percent of the population to 39.3.

* Although the African-American population of the area nearly tripled during the decade - going from 650 in 1990 to 1827 in 2000 - they remain a smaller part of the population here than in the city as a whole - 3.1 percent compared to 6.6 percent. The number of Hispanic people also tripled, and they are now 8.5 percent of the whole for this area, compared to 6.8 for the city. The Native American numbers increased slightly - from 424 to 649 - while there was a net drop for the city as a whole. Meanwhile, the white population dropped from 46,260 to 45,300, and while they remain the dominant race, they are marginally less so than for the rest of the city - 77.3 percent to 77.9.

* Gateway continues to lag behind the city in education. More than half of residents 25 years old or older have no education beyond high school, and only 16 percent are college graduates, compared to 37 percent and 31 percent, respectively, for the city as a whole.
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