Recent figures from the U.S. Census Bureau’s Small Area Health Insurance Estimates (SAHIE) show the number of Americans without health insurance increased from 42.9 million in 2008 to 45 million in 2009.

The most expensive housing in the state is generally the state’s most-populated counties, which are along the Interstate 5 corridor.

Oregon grew by more than 400,000 people during the first decade of this century, and nearly half of the growth was concentrated in Deschutes, Multnomah and Washington counties.

Population grew in all regions of Oregon between 2000 and 2010, and the proportion of Oregonians living in the three-county metropolitan Portland region inched up to nearly 43 percent, according to newly released U.S. Census Bureau data.Central Oregon grew by 30.5 percent during the decade — the fastest growth rate of any region of the state.

The number of college-educated Oregonians grew steadily during the past two decades — especially in Central Oregon — but there were significant regional disparities across the state, census data show.

Local tracts with the highest educational attainment — where upward of 75 percent of residents age 25 and older had a bachelor’s degree or higher — were exclusively on Portland’s west side, according to new U.S. Census Bureau data.

An estimated 30 percent or more of the population lives at or below the federal poverty level in 20 metropolitan Portland census tracts, including some amid outlying suburbs, according to U.S. Census Bureau data published Tuesday.

The Metropolitan Knowledge Network is a timely collection of articles written about the Portland Metro Region and its national and international context. MKN also provides interactive tools for graphing and tabulating the data used in these articles.

Within the Portland region, certain population characteristics such as age, race, ethnicity, education, income, and language vary from area to area. In this article, we explore population characteristics in different parts of the Portland MSA using Census Public Use Microsample (PUMS) data from 2005-2007.

This article offers a descriptive overview of population dynamics in the Portland-Vancouver Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA). Topics include current trends for population growth; the effect of births, deaths, and migration on population growth; and how the age, sex, and ethnic composition of the population are changing in the region.