Rate of population increase reflects national trend, U.S. Census data show
By Patty Hastings, Columbian
Social Services, Demographics, Faith
Published: June 20, 2018, 10:23pm
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Vongxay Kikdavong of Vancouver, originally from Laos, stocks the shelves with mango juice and coconut water at Tola Angkor Asian Market in Vancouver in January. (Alisha Jucevic/The Columbian)
Asians are the fastest-growing racial group in Clark County, mirroring a nationwide trend, according to new U.S. Census data.
Between 2016 and 2017, the county’s Asian population grew from an estimated 21,059 to 22,151, an increase of more than 5 percent. Asians represent 4.7 percent of the overall population and are the second largest minority behind Hispanics.
Nationwide, the Asian population increased 3.1 percent to 22.2 million. The Census defines Asian as being those with origins in the Far East, Southeast Asia or India including China, Cambodia, Japan, Korea, Pakistan, Thailand and Malaysia.
Yi Zhao, chief demographer at the state Office of Financial Management, said the general trend for the last decade has been that Asians and Pacific Islanders are immigrating to the West, typically for professional jobs or school.
That’s what Dongjo Shin did. The former Seoul, South Korea, resident moved to Hawaii in 2008 to pursue his master’s degree in history and then to Washington to complete his doctorate.
“I wanted to study more about the Chinese cultural revolution,” he said, which is “not easy to do in Korea or China because it’s a politically sensitive topic.”
The 36-year-old graduated last month from Washington State University Vancouver and plans to teach a class and live in the area with his family for a while. His story is part of a series at the Clark County Historical Museum that looks at what brought people to Clark County.
Most commonly, Asian people in Clark County identify as Chinese, Vietnamese, Filipino or Korean, like Shin. Camas has the highest share of Asians in the county (5.8 percent); professionals are drawn to the city’s concentration of tech companies.
In neighboring Multnomah County, Ore., an estimated 7.7 percent of the population identifies as Asian, according to the Census. That population grew by about 4 percent between 2016 and 2017. Within the Portland metro area, the largest Asian population, more than 64,000 people, resides in Washington County, Ore., which encompasses Beaverton, Hillsboro and Tigard.
About 40 percent of U.S. Asians live in the West, with California having the largest population. Since the 1800s, Asians have come to the West Coast due to demand for labor and its relative proximity to Asia. Some fled countries as refugees.
Los Angeles, San Francisco and more recently Seattle are popular gateway ports for Asian immigrants, Zhao said.
Washington has the nation’s sixth-largest Asian population, with the vast majority living in Puget Sound. Eighteen percent of King County and 11 percent of Snohomish County residents, for instance, identify as Asian.
Looking at annual population data going back to the 2010 Census, Hispanics have experienced the fastest growth rate and have grown the most numerically in Clark County, said Charles Rynerson, demographer with the Population Research Center at Portland State University.
The Hispanic population, which is Clark County’s largest minority group overall, grew by about 5 percent between 2016 and 2017 and about 42 percent since 2010. The Asian population has grown by 27 percent since the last official census.
More than 45,000 people or almost 10 percent of the population identifies as Hispanic. (The Census considers Hispanic origin as an ethnicity, not a race.)
There are relatively fewer immigrants from Latin American countries due in part to ongoing issues at the U.S. border and an improving economy in Mexico.
“Regardless of whether people can enter or not, there may be fewer of them coming,” Rynerson said. “It may not seem like that due to the news.”
Hispanic population growth is primarily from births, or natural increase, whereas immigration drives Asian population growth, Zhao said.
Generally, Asians and Hispanics tend to be younger than white people, so “they have more population momentum,” Rynerson said. As older, whiter generations die off, they’re replaced by more racially diverse children. Domestic migration contributes to this momentum.
Lots of people are moving to Oregon and Washington, with California, a more racially diverse state, being the biggest supplier of new residents.
That means an area that’s been overwhelmingly white for decades is gradually becoming more diverse.
Did You Know?
• Hundreds of Chinese workers were hired in the mid-1890s to hand-dig the Eureka Ditch in Hockinson, which would later become known as China Ditch.
• Vancouver’s sister city is Joyo, Japan.
• Camas has two sister cities in Japan: Hamamatsu and Taki-cho.
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