A Look at Population Trends in Eastern Oregon
March 17, 2022 Portland State University’s (PSU) annual population estimates show that Eastern Oregon’s population continued to increase in 2021. This is in line with the long-term trend of a growing population in both the state and the region overall. PSU’s Population Research Center does extensive work to create the annual population estimates for the state and counties, as well as incorporated and unincorporated areas. Detailed data focused on age demographics and the components of population change are also available.County Change
The population increased in 2021 in six of Eastern Oregon’s eight counties. Grant and Union counties saw the scale tip the opposite direction. Growth was 0.4% for the region overall, which represents a positive change from 2020’s over-the-year loss of -0.9%. The region saw the population decrease in all but two counties in 2020. Eastern Oregon’s over-the-year rate in 2021 was close to the state’s growth rate of 0.5%. Oregon’s population growth slowed during the pandemic with a gain of 0.2% in 2020. The state’s five-year trend dropped to 4.7% in 2021 from 5.7% in 2020. The five-year-trend (2016 to 2021) for growth was 1.1% in Eastern Oregon, a slight decrease from the previous five-year-trend (2015 to 2020) of 1.3%.

Grant County’s five-year loss dipped to 184 with the county’s population decreasing by 2.5% since 2016. Grant experienced a loss of 13 residents over the year. Union County showed a large decrease over the year (-1.6%), which heavily weights the decrease for the five-year period (-1.7%). A sizeable portion of the loss is likely from the college age demographic, as Eastern Oregon University’s on-campus student enrollment has declined during the pandemic. Soon to be released population by demographic data should help to shed more light on the subject.
City Change
Incorporated cities in Eastern Oregon totaled 128,264 residents in 2021, two-thirds of the region’s total population. These cities ranged from three residents in Greenhorn to 19,696 residents in Hermiston. Thirty cities had a population under 1,000 with a combined population of 9,838. These smaller cities decreased in population over the year by 3.2% overall (-329 residents). Just one-third of the region’s smaller cities showed population gains in 2021. Five-year change was negative as well with a loss of 3.8%, down 389 residents. Nine small cities saw gains for the five-year period with Cove in the lead, Halfway in second, and North Powder in a virtual tie with Huntington for third.
Twenty-three cities had a population above 1,000 with a combined population of 118,426. Total over-the-year growth came in at 0.3% or just 311 residents for these larger cities; 10 cities had gains while 13 showed losses. Five-year growth was 3.5% overall or 4,031 residents. The accompanying table shows a slightly larger total population because John Day and Canyon City (666 residents) were combined as a single population to highlight the total size of the county’s largest urban area. Immediate geographic proximity makes the two function more like a single economy even though they are two separate cities. This also occurs with La Grande/Island City and Burns/Hines; however, each of these four have populations above 1,000, so they did not affect the table’s total population.

Unincorporated Area Change
Unincorporated areas in Eastern Oregon lost a combined 1,468 residents (-2.3%) in 2021, and 1,653 residents (-2.6%) since 2016. County land that does not fall within city boundaries had a total population of 62,180. Umatilla, Malheur, and Union counties ranked first through third, respectively, and accounted for nearly 70% of Eastern Oregon’s unincorporated population. Each of these counties saw a decrease in the unincorporated population over the year as well as since 2016. The other five counties saw population gains in unincorporated areas since 2016, with only Baker seeing a decrease over the year.
