Population Growth Picked Up in 2012

In 2012, the rate of population growth accelerated for the first time since 2006 in most areas of Oregon. While the state, its metro areas, and the non-metropolitan portion of Oregon consistently posted population gains in recent years, growth was not universal. Fourteen counties - all in non-metro areas - experienced at least one annual population decline between 2006 and 2012.

The Oregon portion of the Portland metropolitan - which includes Clackamas, Columbia, Multnomah, Washington, and Yamhill counties - followed the same population trend as Oregon in recent years, but consistently outpaced Oregon's growth rate. The state's other metropolitan areas showed more mixed results.

Corvallis and Salem generally kept with the statewide trend of slower year-to-year growth from 2007 through 2011, followed by an upturn in population growth in 2012. Corvallis fell below the statewide population growth rate each year. Salem's population showed slower growth than Oregon at its most recent peak in 2006.

Population growth rates in Bend far outpaced all other areas of the state from 2006 to 2009. Unlike Oregon and the other metropolitan areas, both Eugene and Medford showed straight-line population growth of 0.3 percent each year in 2010, 2011, and 2012.

Read more about population growth in the full article, written by Senior Economic Analyst Gail Krumenauer.