Tag Archives: Census

Educated People Moving to Idaho, Growth Concentrated in Cities

Migration into Idaho is, in some ways, a study of contrasts. While Idaho ranks 16^th in the nation for state-to-state migration of people over 25 years old, 99 percent of that migration is into the Boise metro area. In 2014, 3,104 adults moved from another state into Idaho of which 3,066 moved to one of the six counties that encompass Idaho’s Treasure Valley. The only other places in Idaho that saw a positive flow from outside of the state were Coeur d’Alene (Kootenai County) and the Magic Valley, though still low. Because the Lewiston metro area straddles the state line, it was excluded from this analysis which examined only state-to-state and metro-to-state flows.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey

Most adults moving into Idaho had a high school diploma but no college experience nor a post-secondary degree. In fact, for every one adult with a bachelor’s degree or higher who moved in, five adults with no more than a high school diploma moved into Idaho at the same time. This ratio improves with adults who had some college experience or an associate’s degree; for each one of these adults who moved into the state, two with no more than a high school diploma also moved in.

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Census Reports 95 Languages Spoken in Idaho

A recent U.S. Census Bureau data release explores in detail the variety of languages spoken within homes in the United States. It reveals that 20 percent of the population 5 years of age and older are using one of at least 350 different languages other than English as their primary means of communication in the household. Pie-graph_Jan

In Idaho, 10.4 percent of the population 5 years of age and older uses a primary language other than English in the household, ranking 28th in the nation among the 50 states and Washington, D.C. Continue reading →

Idaho’s Over-55 Population on the Rise

Idaho’s population remains one of the youngest states in the nation, but continues to age faster than most others, new U.S. Census Bureau estimates show. Even the nation’s youngest county, Madison in eastern Idaho, aged slightly faster than eight other Idaho counties.

The median age statewide was 35.5 years in 2013, more than two years younger than the national median age. Just four states – North Dakota, Texas, Alaska and Utah – and the District of Columbia were younger.

However, since 2010, Idaho’s median age has increased nearly a full year – from 34.6 years. Only Maine, New Hampshire and Utah saw larger increases.

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Marriage Customs in Idaho, Nation Changed Significantly Since 1960s

Since the 1960s, Idaho, like the rest of the United States, has seen dramatic changes in marriage customs. They, in turn, affect the makeup of households, which determines the strength of consumer spending, home stability for children and the educational attainment and size of the available workforce.

Marriage

Attitudes toward marriage have changed dramatically in the past two or three decades.

While marriage once was a first step into adulthood, it now is one of the last steps. Andrew J. Cherlin, a professor of sociology and public policy at Johns Hopkins, wrote in an April 27, 2013, New York Times article that “marriage has become the capstone experience of personal life — the last brick put in place after everything else is set. … Young adults with greater earning potential, who can afford the capstone celebration, are still marrying in large numbers while those with poorer economic prospects are holding off. According to the National Center for Family and Marriage Research, 88 percent of 35- to 44-year-old women with four-year college degrees have married, compared with 79 percent of those without high-school diplomas. In fact, young adults without college degrees are increasingly likely to put off marriage and have their first children in cohabiting relationships, sometimes years before they marry. Nearly all of the increase in childbearing outside of marriage in the last two decades is from births to cohabiting couples, most without college degrees, rather than to single mothers.

“More than 90 percent of American women with four-year college degrees wait until after they are married to have children. … Moreover, their marriages are lasting longer — since 1980 the divorce rate has dropped faster for those with college degrees so that about one in six of their marriages ends in divorce in the first 10 years compared with nearly one in two marriages among people without high school degrees.”

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Idaho’s Population Density Shift Causes Other Changes

Idaho’s population growth – and the shifts toward more urban areas over the last several decades – has had differing effects on the population density in the 44 counties, and as density increases that generally impacts services. It can drive up the cost of living and adversely affect water and air quality and wildlife but increase community vibrancy and amenities.

The 1950 census found Canyon County with the highest density in the state. Neighboring Ada County was a distant second with 36 percent fewer people per square mile. While Canyon County is half the size of Ada County, it picked up residents as Ada County saw real estate prices escalate and open spaces decrease.

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Where are Newcomers From, Where are Others Going?

Despite the housing market contraction that helped ignite the recession, Idahoans continued moving to other states at the same annual rate between 2007 and 2011, but the number of people from other states moving to Idaho dropped dramatically, according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates.

The new 2011 census figures, for the first time, included estimates of educational attainment and annual income for those moving in and out. In Idaho, those moving into the state were a little more prosperous than those moving out but a little less educated, on a percentage basis.

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Employee Turnover: Why And At What Cost?

Employee turnover in Idaho slowed during the recession but is beginning to pick up again as workers become more comfortable in a reviving labor market. But the rate of turnover and characteristics of the workers changing jobs can have a significant economic impact on businesses.

Employees stay on the job an average of 23 to 24 months before jumping ship or being laid off, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ labor turnover survey, and at a cost that can substantially affect a business’s bottom line.

According to the Census Bureau’s Quarterly Workforce Indicators, employee turnover was 9.1 percent for all jobs in 2011. That is up from 8.8 percent in the depths of the recession in 2009 but still below prerecession levels approaching 11 percent.

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