FOR NO PARTICULAR REASON it’s time to look at who lives here and what that might tell us about ourselves and our neighbors. The source is the U.S. Census Bureau for 2020, which is required every 10 years by the Constitution. But if you plan to browse the census here or anywhere else, do it carefully: sometimes the measurements are a number of people; sometimes a percentage; now and then a number of dollars. It matters.
Start with the county. The Census Bureau says that 61,570 people lived in the county as of April 1, 2020. That’s an estimated loss of more than 1,500 people over the last decade. The median age of people who live here is 48.9 years old.
We talk a lot about that age figure. But who wouldn’t? The median age here is 25% higher than the residents of New York statewide. Anyway, it’s easier to lament about how old we are than to plan for who’s going to fix the plumbing when the age gap gets even greater.
There are just over 25,000 households in the county. The number of persons per household is 2.35. How wired are we when it comes to adjusting to life in the digital world? The census wanted to know and now the census reports that: “Households with a Broadband Internet subscription present” comes to more than 83%. That’s an optimistic estimate. At least some internet providers who claimed to be wiring rural areas over the last decade didn’t always tell the truth. Imagine that.
It may not matter. Mobile devices are now the communication technology of choice. The next census is likely to include measurements of our “screen time.” Perhaps the 2030 census will also measure competing forms of artificial intelligence. That will leave it to the census counters to decide which ones of you are the residents, which ones are your “resident-bots,” and whether the others are visitors or just spare parts.
Think of the census as a “tool” for states to carve up the voting districts allotted to the House of Representatives every 10 years. Both major political parties abuse it to gain power. But it also provides a detailed statistical portrait of life in America. It tells us stuff like the percentage of persons in the county who have a high school or a higher degree (91.2%) and gives you the annual median household income ($73,065). What the census doesn’t do much of is explaining why.
That’s not the function of the census. There are other sources for that. The census makes it possible to ask informed questions. Start with poverty.
In Columbia County the number of people who live below the poverty line is listed as a percentage of the total. The percentage lists it as 9.7% for all residents.
A graph by the nonprofit Census Reporter open source website indicates the percentage of children (under 18) comprise 14% of the total. Not comfortable with percentages? That amounts to 1,383 kids in poverty (plus or minus 2%). That’s less than the rate children in poverty statewide. It’s a little better than the rate for the nation as a whole.
Forget about the percentages. Think about the children. The census says they’re here. Is that our standard? 1,383.