Point Reyes Light - August 16, 2001

Census shows biggest growth in Valley

By Marian Schinske

Thanks to years of door-knocking, note-taking, and number-crunching for the 2000 census, West Marin now has some statistics on its towns.

Last week the Census Bureau posted information online about California’s population, age range, racial mix, and household occupancy – and West Marin looked mighty irregular.

Compared with the state’s 33 million inhabitants, West Marin’s 10,913 residents are older and mostly white. The Point Reyes Station-Inverness Park area has the biggest population (1,874), followed by Bolinas (1,560), and Woodacre (1,434). Olema had the fewest residents (245). To the south, Stinson Beach has 772 residents.

The Inverness area (which includes the National Seashore to the west) has 995 residents. Marshall has 394. Tomales has 371. And Dillon Beach has 319.

In the San Geronimo Valley, Woodacre’s 1,434 residents are followed by Forest Knolls with 1,019 residents. Lagunitas has 813. And San Geronimo has 528. Nicasio has 589.

The Light’s totals for West Marin are based on zip-code boundaries. Not included in the tally are outlying areas in West Marin without postoffices, such as Muir Beach, Chileno Valley, and Hicks Valley. Other population totals for West Marin can be found by adding together census blocs, or geographic areas.

In general, West Marin’s population has decreased on the coast or remained virtually unchanged while it increased in towns to the east.

Wade Holland, general manager of the Inverness Public Utility District, said he believes that his district’s population has dropped off dramatically.

"The resident population here is declining," Holland said. "More often than not, the houses that have been occupied fulltime are now sold to people who use them as weekend homes. Thirty-eight percent of the homes in the district now have no fulltime occupants.

"That shocked us," he said. "We used to think that vacation homes accounted for 15 to 20 percent of the residences."

Bolinas & Stinson stable

In Bolinas, the population has remained pretty constant, said Phil Buchanan, general manager of Bolinas Public Utility District. "I haven’t seen a rise or a fall," he said. Because of the town’s moratorium on new water hookups, only a "very limited" number of new houses have been allowed in the district during the past three decades.

Stinson Beach resident Kendrick Rand said he figured that Stinson’s population has remained stable. "Off the top of my head, it’s been pretty static here during the past 10 years," said Rand, who retired earlier this year after serving as the town’s fire chief for 25 years. "Stinson Beach has always had a lot of unoccupied homes, and I’ve noticed that even if new homes are built here, they’re not necessarily lived in fulltime."

Rand is probably right. Stinson Beach has the smallest average household size in West Marin (1.98 people). Nicasio, however, wins the household-size award. An average of 2.54 people live in the town’s homes – in contrast to the countywide average of 2.34 but well below the statewide average of 2.87.

Main growth in Valley

Suzanne Sadowsky, development coordinator for the San Geronimo Valley Cultural Center, said that the Valley has seen a 13.5 percent increase in population during the past decade. Based on her figures gleaned from the 2000 census (which jibe with The Light’s numbers), she said the Valley’s population has increased by 451 people since 1990.

All in all, Marin County has 247,289 residents – and most fall between the ages of 35 and 54. Not surprisingly, there are more older people (aged 55 to 84) living in the county than babies, kids, and teens combined.

The median age countywide is 41.3 while West Marin’s median age is 44.2. Dillon Beach has the oldest median age at 51.5. Inverness area falls in the middle with a median age of 43.6 while Forest Knolls has the youngest median age at 40.4.

Marshall gets the prize for the highest male-to-female ratio. This is significant because overall there are fewer men than women in West Marin.

Bolinas most diverse

Bolinas gets a blue ribbon for diversity. The town has one third of West Marin’s black population, one third of the region’s Pacific Islander population, one sixth of the region’s Asian population, one tenth of the region’s Native American population, and more than one tenth of the region’s Latino population.

For the most part, though, West Marin is white. Really white. Roughly 89 percent of residents here defined themselves as "white alone." That’s high even for Marin County, which is about 84 percent white.

About 1,087 people in West Marin describe themselves as Hispanic or Latino. The Inverness area, which includes ranches in the National Seashore, has the highest number of Latino residents (270) while Dillon Beach has the lowest (3).

10% here are Latinos

0n average, Latinos represent about 10 percent of West Marin’s total population – just a percentage point below the countywide population. In contrast, they make up 32.4 percent of the state’s population.

Of course, Latino percentages rise in places where they work. In West Marin, most Latinos live on or near ranches. Twenty-eight percent of Marshall’s population is Latino – just ahead of Inverness (including the northwestern National Seashore) with 27 percent of the population. Other towns with high Latino populations include Olema (27 percent), Nicasio (13 percent), Tomales (10 percent), and the Point Reyes Station-Inverness Park area (9 percent).

Comparing West Marin’s present racial mix to that of the 1990 census may be tricky, said Patty Farnam, spokeswoman for the Census Bureau.

"You can’t do an apple-to-apple comparison of the 1990 census data with the 2000 census data because the race questions were asked differently," Farnam said. "For instance, in the 2000 questionnaire, you were allowed to define yourself as more than one race."

Importance of census

Why is all this census data important for West Marin?

For starters, census information is used by the federal government to dole out money and to set boundaries for legislative and supervisorial districts. In addition, state and county governments use the data to allocate money to a variety of programs, including health and social-services programs.

A full headcount means adequate funding for West Marin’s nonprofit health-care clinics, said John Severson, executive director of the Coastal Health Alliance, which includes the Point Reyes Medical Clinic, Bolinas Family Practice, and Stinson Beach Medical Center.

"Without a good count of people of low income or high medical need – such as elderly patients, infants, and people who speak other languages – it’s very difficult for us to demonstrate that we have a need for these [federal and state] resources," Severson said.

"We do need these resources because we’re a sparsely populated area with many people who aren’t insured and can’t afford to pay for care," he said. "Also, we need subsidies for health-promotion and education programs that insurance companies never reimburse for."

Currently, household-income information for the 2000 census is not available online, said bureau spokeswoman Farnam. With luck, she said, that data will be ready next June.

Those with questions can call the US Census Bureau at 206 553-5882 or visit the bureau’s online site at <http://factfinder.census.gov>.

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