Oregon Office of Economic Analysis

This edition of the Graph of the Week explores Oregon’s population over time and is quick since our next quarterly forecast is fast approaching (Thursday.) I love what Bill over at Calculated Risk has done now a couple of times with a GIF of the U.S. population and have simply borrowed his idea and made an Oregon version. There are quite a few interesting points: health care and longer life expectancy, the Baby Boomer and Millennials, etc. Oregon does differ from the nation primarily due to our strong in-migration patterns which have occurred basically since Lewis & Clark. Among other things, in-migration boosts Oregon’s overall population growth rate above the typical state and it also helps fill in the generational gaps.

Migration has certainly been a boon to the Oregon economy over time and our office’s forecast includes above average population growth and migration trends moving forward as well. The number of migrants is expected to remain relatively high in the next decade as the Millennials are in their 20s and early 30s (the young move much more than do the old.) After which, it can be expected that Oregon will likely retain it’s relative advantage of migrants. The numbers and growth rates will likely be lower, but due to demography as the grandchildren of Generation X are a smaller cohort.

For more on our office’s population and demographic outlook, plus county level forecasts, please visit our main website. Also, for those interested, I used gifmaker.me.