Multnomah County, Oregon Population and Demographics

In this article, we'll explore the population statistics for Multnomah County, Oregon, including popular demographics data like median age, number of households, household income, gender, employment and unemployment rates, occupations, religion, and more.

We are using the latest American Community Survey (ACS) 5-Year survey data from the US Census Bureau, which is accurate up to 2021.

Table of Contents

Population

There is a lot of data that lets us see how many people live in Multnomah County, Oregon. The most basic data is the total population, which is the total number of people living in Multnomah County, Oregon. The estimated population of Multnomah County, Oregon is 810,011 people, with a median age of 37.8.

We can look at the total population in Multnomah County over the last 5 years to see how much it has changed.

Year Population Change 5-Year Change
2021
810,011
+0.02%
+2.73%
2020
809,869
+0.65%
-
2019
804,606
+0.75%
-
2018
798,647
+1.29%
-
2017
788,459
- -

Population of Multnomah County, Oregon by Race and Ethnicity

We can also look at how the population has changed over the last 5 years by each of the race/ethnicity types as defined by the US Census Bureau.

Race 2021 2017 Change
White
68.1%
70.5%
-3.40%
Black/African American
5.1%
5.3%
-3.77%
Native
0.6%
0.6%
0.00%
Hispanic
12.1%
11.3%
+7.08%
Asian
7.6%
7%
+8.57%
Hawaiian/Pacific Islander
0.6%
0.6%
0.00%
Two Or More Races
5.5%
4.4%
+25.00%
Other
0.4%
0.3%
+33.33%

This data can be very important for a number of reasons, including social and economic research, planning and development, and marketing to a multi-cultural population.

Note that the Native group includes both Native American and Alaskan Native people.

Population of Multnomah County, Oregon by Age and Gender

The age and gender of a population is another interesting demographic statistic because it lets us track trends in the population over time. For example, we can see how the population has changed over the last 5 years by median age as a total, and also by male and female.

Year Total Male Female
2021 37.8 +0.8% 37.6 +1.35% 38.1 +0.79%
2020 37.5 +0.81% 37.1 +0.54% 37.8 +0.8%
2019 37.2 +0.54% 36.9 +0.54% 37.5 +0.54%
2018 37 +0.54% 36.7 +0.82% 37.3 +0.27%
2017 36.8 - 36.4 - 37.2 -

The median age of Multnomah County, Oregon gives you an idea of the age distribution, with half of the population being older than the median age and half being younger.

This can then be used to infer and compare against birth rates, parent ages, and more metrics to understand the population. For example, an increasing median age indicates an aging population, which can be a sign of a declining population in terms of birth rates and workforce participation.

Age 2021 2017
(Years) Male Female Male Female
0 to 9 46,579 -9.56% 44,181 -8.28% 42,277 40,622
10 to 19 40,625 +5.46% 39,140 +4.63% 42,883 40,973
20 to 29 59,876 -3.25% 61,757 -1.7% 57,929 60,695
30 to 39 72,645 +4.05% 71,948 +4.05% 75,625 74,883
40 to 49 57,295 +8.92% 53,927 +8.63% 62,576 58,720
50 to 59 47,903 +4.26% 48,657 -1.99% 49,964 47,694
60 to 69 40,609 +3.06% 42,933 +3.85% 41,855 44,593
70+ 25,010 +17.41% 35,374 +10.15% 29,635 39,087

Median Household Income

The latest median household income of Multnomah County, Oregon is $76,290.00.

In simple terms, the median income is the middle income of a group of people. Half of the people in the group make more than the median income, and half make less. The median income is a good indicator of the overall income of a group of people, and can be used to compare against other metrics such as the average income, per capita income, and more.

Median Income by Age

We can also look at the median income by age to see how the median income varies by age, and how it compares to the overall median income for Multnomah County.

  • Under 25
    $37,383.00
  • 25 to 44
    $85,412.00
  • 45 to 64
    $84,266.00
  • 65 and over
    $57,368.00

Average Household Income

Whenever we ask what is the average household income in Multnomah County, we are actually talking about the mean household income.

This is calculated by adding up all the incomes of all the households in Multnomah County, and then dividing that number by the total number of households. This is a good way to get a general idea of the average income of a group of people, but it can be skewed by a very high or very low incomes.

The average household income of Multnomah County, Oregon is currently $104,296.00.

In terms of accurately summarizing income at a geographic level, the median income is a better metric than the average income because it isn't affected by a small number of very high or very low incomes.

If you had an area where the average income was greater than the median, it can mean that there is significant income inequality, with income being concentrated in a small number of wealthy households.

11.28% of households in Multnomah County are classed as high income households (making $200,000+ per year).

Household Income Tiers

The US Census Bureau divides households into income tiers based on the median income for the area. This is a good way to compare the income of Multnomah County against other areas.

  • Less than $24,999
    15.87%
  • $25,000 to $49,999
    17.35%
  • $50,000 to $74,999
    16.12%
  • $75,000 to $99,999
    12.69%
  • $100,000 to $149,999
    17.55%
  • $150,000 to $199,999
    9.14%
  • $200,000 or more
    11.28%

Per Capita Income

The per capita income in Multnomah County is $44,675.00.

Per capita income is the average income of a person in a given area. It is calculated by dividing the total income of Multnomah County by the total population of Multnomah County.

This is different from the average or mean income because it includes and accounts for all people in Multnomah County, Oregon, including people like children, the elderly, unemployed people, retired people, and more.

Education Levels

We can also look at the education levels in Multnomah County to see how many people have a high school degree, a bachelor's degree, or a graduate degree.

Educational attainment is a good indicator of the overall education level of a population, and can be used to compare against other metrics such as the average income, per capita income, and more to see how education levels affect income, unemployment rates, and more.

  • Master's degree or higher
    20.26%
  • Bachelor's degree
    45.93%
  • Some college or associate's degree
    9.41%
  • High school diploma or equivalent
    21.88%
  • Less than high school diploma
    2.52%

Employment

Employment rates are all based around the total population in Multnomah County that are over the age of 16.

The total population of Multnomah County over the age of 16 is 675,875.

Of those people, a total of 70.00% are working or actively looking for work. This is called the labor force participation rate.

The participation rate is a useful market measure because it shows the relative amount of labor resources available to the economy.

The employment to total population rate in Multnomah County is 66.10%.

Employment by Age

We can look at the employment rates by age to see how it compares to the overall employment rate.

Age Population Participation Unemployment Rate
16 to 19 years 32,619 38.40% 18.70%
20 to 24 years 46,570 76.90% 9.60%
25 to 29 years 72,054 87.20% 6.20%
30 to 34 years 77,854 87.90% 4.70%
35 to 44 years 136,432 87.30% 4.50%
45 to 54 years 108,283 84.50% 4.40%
55 to 59 years 46,893 73.10% 5.40%
60 to 64 years 45,417 58.30% 3.50%
65 to 74 years 70,835 27.60% 5.40%
75 years and over 38,918 6.80% 7.80%

Employment by Race

Another very interesting employment statistic we can look at is the employment and unemployment rates by race in Multnomah County. The table below shows the rates for each of the ethnicity groups types defined by the US Census Bureau.

Age Population Participation Unemployment Rate
White 515,050 69.90% 5.20%
Black or African American 33,370 64.60% 7.20%
American Indian and Alaska Native 5,962 63.90% 8.70%
Asian 53,507 68.10% 5.20%
Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander 3,972 78.10% 6.80%
Other 17,232 77.10% 5.90%
Two or more races 46,782 74.30% 8.30%
Hispanic or Latino 71,041 76.70% 6.70%
Not Hispanic or Latino 478,713 69.50% 5.10%

Occupations

In this section we can look at the most common occupations in Multnomah County as well as the gender breakdown and earnings of them.

The total population of civilian employees that are 16 years old or older in Multnomah County is 446,728, with median earnings of $45,424.00.

Women in Multnomah County, Oregon earning approximately 81.70% of the men's earnings.

Population Earnings
Total 446,728 $45,424.00
Male 230,146 $50,771.00
Female 216,582 $41,480.00

Occupations by Category

In the table below, we can break down the population and earnings even further by occupation. The list of occupation categories below will show you how many people are employed in each category and the median earnings of each profession.

Occupation Employed Earnings
Management 54,465 $80,938.00
Business and Financial 29,816 $71,653.00
Computer and Mathematical 18,357 $86,434.00
Architecture and Engineering 12,748 $83,704.00
Life, Physical, and Social Science 7,158 $63,438.00
Community and Social Service 10,797 $43,657.00
Legal 8,417 $92,987.00
Educational and Library 25,469 $46,371.00
Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media 19,293 $49,138.00
Healthcare Practitioners 29,539 $79,812.00
Healthcare Support 15,641 $27,431.00
Firefighters and Protective Service 4,539 $32,280.00
Law Enforcement 1,094 $76,500.00
Food Preparation and Serving 27,439 $20,709.00
Building and Grounds Cleaning 11,892 $25,748.00
Personal Care and Service 11,715 $20,164.00
Sales 38,430 $38,593.00
Office and Administrative Support 44,895 $37,284.00
Farming, Fishing, and Forestry 1,740 $28,066.00
Construction and Extraction 16,051 $40,200.00
Installation, Maintenance, and Repair 8,262 $47,829.00
Production 20,119 $36,350.00
Transportation and Material Moving 13,861 $37,426.00

Occupations by Gender

The table below shows the same occupations from the list above, but we have split them by male and female to see how many male and females work in each occupation, the median earnings, and the male to female ratio of earnings.

That last metric is important because it can be used to look at the gender pay gap between men and women.

Occupation Male Female
Population Earnings Population Earnings
Management 29,176 $89,086.00 25,289 $71,527.00
Business and Financial 14,104 $79,097.00 15,712 $67,116.00
Computer and Mathematical 13,610 $93,466.00 4,747 $73,490.00
Architecture and Engineering 9,789 $84,847.00 2,959 $80,074.00
Life, Physical, and Social Science 3,678 $66,618.00 3,480 $60,029.00
Community and Social Service 3,761 $42,334.00 7,036 $44,378.00
Legal 3,737 $110,054.00 4,680 $74,679.00
Educational and Library 7,768 $54,964.00 17,701 $42,337.00
Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media 10,142 $55,510.00 9,151 $43,954.00
Healthcare Practitioners 9,079 $92,182.00 20,460 $76,693.00
Healthcare Support 3,128 $29,507.00 12,513 $26,646.00
Firefighters and Protective Service 3,385 $33,262.00 1,154 $31,862.00
Law Enforcement 734 $84,712.00 360 $64,700.00
Food Preparation and Serving 13,730 $23,395.00 13,709 $18,609.00
Building and Grounds Cleaning 6,625 $29,948.00 5,267 $19,069.00
Personal Care and Service 2,541 $21,700.00 9,174 $19,544.00
Sales 19,749 $49,323.00 18,681 $28,866.00
Office and Administrative Support 15,033 $38,104.00 29,862 $36,957.00
Farming, Fishing, and Forestry 1,357 $29,924.00 383 $12,165.00
Construction and Extraction 15,135 $40,763.00 916 $31,219.00
Installation, Maintenance, and Repair 7,733 $47,394.00 529 $53,882.00
Production 14,368 $39,215.00 5,751 $29,274.00
Transportation and Material Moving 11,292 $39,096.00 2,569 $27,939.00

Households and Family Size

A household defined bu the US Census Bureau is a group of people who occupy a housing unit. A housing unit is a house, apartment, mobile home, group of rooms, or single room occupied as separate living quarters.

There are currently 339,228 households in Multnomah County, with an average household size of 2.34 people.

A family is defined as a group of two or more people related by birth, marriage, or adoption who live together in the same household.

There are 178,961 families in Multnomah County with an average family size of 3.02 people.

Households by Marital Status

The four categories of household by marital status are:

  • Married-couple family
  • Male householder with no spouse present
  • Female household with no spouse present
  • Nonfamily household

The table below shows the total number of households and families, with the average sizes of each.

Married Male Female Nonfamily
Total Households 133,899 14,175 30,887 160,267
Average Household Size 3.1 3.13 3.32 1.44
Total Families 133,899 14,175 30,887 0
Average Household Size 3.06 2.7 3 0

Poverty

Of the 178,961 families in Multnomah County, 7.50% are considered to be below the poverty threshold.

The table below shows the latest poverty thresholds in Multnomah County:

Household Size Poverty Threshold
1 Person $14,580.00
2 People $19,720.00
3 People $24,860.00
4 People $30,000.00
5 People $35,140.00
6 People $40,280.00
7 People $45,420.00
8 People $50,560.00

Housing

There are 358,675 housing units in Multnomah County, Oregon.

The table below shows the split between occupied and vacant units:

Total Percentage
Occupied 339,228 94.58%
Vacant 19,447 5.42%

41.75% of the total 358,675 housing units in Multnomah County are rental units. This is approximately 149,756 properties.

For owner-occupied housing units, a total of 185,493 are occupied by the owner - or 51.72% of the total.

Rental Rates

The median rent for a property in Multnomah County is $1,394.00.

In the chart below, we can look at the number of rental properties in Multnomah County that fall into a particular rent range. These can then be used to compare with other areas, or to see how they have changed over time.

  • No rent paid
    3,979
  • Less than $500
    8,073
  • $500 to $999
    20,757
  • $1,000 to $1,499
    59,114
  • $1,500 to $1,999
    38,259
  • $2,000 to $2,499
    15,057
  • $2,500 to $2,999
    5,304
  • $3,000 or more
    3,192

Property Value

The median value of a property in Multnomah County is $437,600.00.

Just like with rental rates, we can look at the number of properties in Multnomah County that fall into a particular value range.

  • Less than $50,000
    4,167
  • $50,000 to $99,999
    2,124
  • $100,000 to $149,999
    1,537
  • $150,000 to $199,999
    4,676
  • $200,000 to $299,999
    20,894
  • $300,000 to $499,999
    82,841
  • $500,000 to $999,999
    61,794
  • $1,000,000 or more
    7,460

Property Age

We can also look at the age of properties in Multnomah County. The chart below shows the number of properties in Multnomah County that fall into a particular age range.

  • 1939 or earlier
    84,923
  • 1940 to 1949
    24,809
  • 1950 to 1959
    37,201
  • 1960 to 1969
    31,667
  • 1970 to 1979
    46,860
  • 1980 to 1989
    30,785
  • 1990 to 1999
    35,960
  • 2000 to 2009
    37,474
  • 2010 to 2013
    28,292
  • 2014 or later
    704

Vehicles per Household

The number of vehicles available per household can be a good indicator of the level of affluence in an area. The chart below shows the number of households in Multnomah County that have a particular number of vehicles available.

  • No vehicles available
    42,840
  • 1 vehicle available
    130,602
  • 2 vehicles available
    113,123
  • 3 or more vehicles available
    52,663

Commuting to Work

In this section, we can also look at how people in Multnomah County get to work. The chart below shows the number of people in Multnomah County that commute to work in a particular way.

26.1 minutes is the average travel time to work for people in Multnomah County.

These commute times can be compared to other date like income and educational levels to see how they relate to each other and if there are any trends in the data that might suggest a correlation.

  • Less than 5 minutes
    5,750
  • 5 to 9 minutes
    25,827
  • 10 to 14 minutes
    41,218
  • 15 to 19 minutes
    59,432
  • 20 to 24 minutes
    63,957
  • 25 to 29 minutes
    30,682
  • 30 to 34 minutes
    60,272
  • 35 to 39 minutes
    12,531
  • 40 to 44 minutes
    15,261
  • 45 to 59 minutes
    27,371
  • 60 to 89 minutes
    16,421
  • 90 or more minutes
    6,471

Summary

We've covered a LOT of demographic and population data for Multnomah County, Oregon in this article! Hopefully you have found it very useful in your research of the area.

If you use any of the data found on this page, please consider linking back to USPopulation.org as the source and if you have any feedback or data requests, click here to contact us.

Places in Multnomah County, Oregon

We have data for 12 places in Multnomah County, Oregon. Click on a place below to see more information about the demographics of that place.