Beaverton Demographic Profiles: 1960-2000

Age, Fertility & Minority Populations

The combination of national trends related to families, births, the World War II baby boom cohort, and increased longevity coupled with employment related population growth have resulted in a major demographic transformation of Beaverton and the Study Area.

Household types - trends.  In 1960 fully 93.7 percent of the Study Area population households consisted of families. This contrasted with the Metro area in which the comparable figure was only 66.9 percent. However, the proportion of households that were families began to decline during the 1960's falling to only 34.7 percent in 2000. In Beaverton 87.4 percent of the households were families in 1960 but only 60.5 percent were in 2000, lower than the Metro percentage of 64.4 percent. A similar pattern occurred with respect to "married with children" type households, which comprised 68.1 percent of all households in Beaverton and 59.2 percent in the Study Area in 1960 versus 56 percent for the Metro area. However, by 2000 the percentage for Beaverton and the Study Area had declined to about 50 percent, only slightly higher than the 47 percent for the Metro area. The ratio of children born per 1,000 women aged 15-44 also declined from approximately 2.7 in 1970 (data not published in the 1960 Census) for Beaverton to 1.6 in 2000. All the above trends suggest a reduction in the proportions of families with children but sheer growth of housing and population have resulted in enormous growth of population and numbers of children.

Age - trends.  The age composition of the Study Area and Beaverton have been affected by national trends in fertility, increased life span, and the passage of the post World War II baby boom cohort. Housing expansion in the Study Area was in part a reaction to this demographically based demand but also reflected the growth of industry. During the 1960-2000 period there were also significant reductions in mortality of older Americans, especially those in the oldest age groups. This is reflected in large increases in the 60 plus age group in the Study Area. From the population pyramids below you can see that Beaverton has a larger proportion of persons between the ages of 20 and 39 and under the age of 9 than the Portland Metro area. This is reflective of a suburban area, such as Beaverton.

Minorities - trends.  In 1960 few minorities resided in Beaverton or the Study Area. In 2000, the largest minority populations in the Study Area were Asians, which constituted 9.5 percent, and Hispanics, which constituted 9.1 percent. In Beaverton the Hispanic population represents 11.1 percent and the Asian population 10.0 percent of all persons. Almost no Hispanics, Asians, Blacks, or American Indians lived in the Study Area in 1960, less than 0.3 percent. Most of the increases in minority populations began after 1970 with growth of the Hispanic and Asian populations. In 1990, Beaverton and the Study Area had a smaller proportion of Hispanics than the Metro area and a larger portion of Asians. Between 1990 and 2000, Beaverton had a much greater increase in the number of Hispanics than the Metro area, 380 percent and 188 percent, respectively. By 2000 the Study Area and Beaverton showed higher percentages of both Asian and Hispanic populations than the Metro area, but lower populations of Blacks, which remain concentrated in the City of Portland.

Families, Age, and Fertility; spatial variations.  In 1960 the census tracts in the Study Area to the East of Beaverton show an age structure characteristic of newly settled suburbia with families and school aged children. By 1970 continuing growth had spread westward into Washington County and most tracts in the Study Area show an increase in younger families with children. However some of the tracts to the south and southwest of the core of Beaverton began to show an increase in a mix of young households, mostly without children, and elderly. By 1980 some of the tracts in the east side of the Study Area that grew rapidly during the 1950's and 1960's began to mature and contained mainly older households with high school age children. The group of tracts in Beaverton that began to show declines in families with children in 1970 showed further declines as the numbers of baby boomer children reached the age of leaving home and occupied older, smaller, and less expensive housing in the tracts to the south and southwest of Beaverton. In the areas of less expensive housing along the western edge of the Study Area in Aloha and to the north and south of Aloha younger families occupied less expensive newly built housing. By 1990 the numbers of young households without children in the areas to the south and southwest of Beaverton declined as the baby boomers aged and moved westward into larger apartments and single family housing units. Increasing housing costs in the western edge of the Study Area began to filter out younger households resulting in older families with older children. Along the eastern edge of the Study Area the suburbs built in the 1950's and 1960's showed increasingly older families due to aging in place and the inability of younger households to afford housing in these areas. In 2000, the western portion of the Study Area continues to be very family-oriented with mainly older families with older children while the northern parts of the Study Area see a large influx of both young and older families due to newly built less expensive housing (Fig. 4.1,4.2, 5.2). Elderly persons and non-families concentrate along the transit areas and towards the east in older existing neighborhoods, a mirror image of households with children (Fig. 5.1, 5.3).

Maps showing the distribution of children age 0 to 5 in 2000 show higher percentages in the west and northwest of the Study Area and are concentrated along the periphery. Children age 0 to 17 tend to be focused more to the south than the 0 to 5 population of children, indicating older families in newly built more expensive housing along this edge. By contrast, the age 65 and over population is most numerous in the earlier settled suburbs in the eastern part of the Study Area and in a few areas along the western edge where suburban growth has been delayed. The distribution of the age 85 and older population shows a similar pattern, but with sharper concentrations in a few areas containing specialized housing for the elderly.

Race and Hispanic origin; spatial variations.  Maps showing the distribution of children age 0 to 5 in 2000 show higher percentages in the west and northwest of the Study Area and are concentrated along the periphery. Children age 0 to 17 tend to be focused more to the south than the 0 to 5 population of children, indicating older families in newly built more expensive housing along this edge. By contrast, the age 65 and over population is most numerous in the earlier settled suburbs in the eastern part of the Study Area and in a few areas along the western edge where suburban growth has been delayed. The distribution of the age 85 and older population shows a similar pattern, but with sharper concentrations in a few areas containing specialized housing for the elderly.