Do you know the median household income and the percentage of households who are living below the poverty line in your county? How about the percentage of adults with a college degree, or 9th graders on track to graduate from high school? How many child care slots are there per 100 children? How many electric vehicle charging stations?

Thanks to The Ford Family Foundation’s publication, “Oregon by the Numbers,” all this data and more is readily available and updated annually.

As a self-proclaimed data geek, I look forward to getting my copy of OBTN in the mail. It comes out in print in even-numbered years, and is updated online in between at www.tfff.org/oregon-numbers.

If you are an elected official, or if your work involves local or statewide policy, this is essential data. For everyone else, it’s important and interesting info that is displayed with easy-to-understand graphics.

This data helps explain many differences between the lives of urban and rural Oregonians. Some examples:

In Multnomah County, only 1.6% of housing units are mobile homes, but in most rural counties, 15% or more are mobile homes.

It’s not surprising that a one-bedroom apartment in Harney County goes for $575, while the same size apartment costs three times more in urban counties.

In urban counties, over 90% of households have broadband internet vs. fewer than 50% of households in Morrow, Wallowa, Lake, Gilliam, Grant and Wheeler counties.

Some may be surprised to learn that rural Wheeler, Wallowa and Gilliam counties have the highest vaccination rates for 2-year-olds in the state, well above the state average of 69% But then, rural Grant, Curry and Lake counties have the lowest rates. Hmmm.

Job growth, year-over-year, is generally highest in urban counties, with Multhomah County leading the pack. Four rural counties — Jefferson, Malheur, Lake and Sherman — lost jobs between 2022 and 2023.

These numbers alone don’t tell the whole story. But they do provide points of comparison and indicate where policymakers and philanthropists need to focus to make sure the needs of rural Oregonians are not forgotten.

— Kathryn B. Brown