Washington has more than 24,000 households headed by same-sex couples and Idaho has about 3,200, based on recently released data from the 2010 Census.
An analysis by the Williams Institute at the UCLA Law School says King County has the most highest number of same-sex couple households in Washington and the highest rate for every 1,000 households, with Vashon and Seattle leading the list of cities among those households. In Idaho, Ada County and Boise have the highest number of same-sex households but the highest rate, nearly 14 of every 1,000 households, is in Benewah County.
Neither Spokane nor Kootenai County show up on any of the “top five lists.”
Three of four households in Idaho and four of five in Washington are not raising children, the institute said. Almost three-fourths of those households in Idaho are headed by women. In Washington the split is a bit more even, with 60 percent headed by two women and 40 percent by two men.
  

Here's some extra detail on Spokane County Commissioner Districts developed for Sunday's story. For a larger version, click on the link below. (Individual population numbers are in each precinct.)

To read the story, go inside the blog.

Documents:

This map provides some extra details for Sunday's story on local redistricting. For a larger version, click on the link below. (The population numbers are in each precinct.)

To read the story, go inside the blog.

Documents:

The U.S. Census Bureau released another pile of data this week from tghe 2010 headcount, and the tabulation of American residents by gender revealed the unsurprising fact there are more women than men in the United States.

But there are more boys than girls.

For all age groups, there are roughly 5 million fewer male Americans than female Americans (149.5 million to 154.8 million).

But when breaking it down by age groups, the male numbers are larger from infancy through age 29. At age 30, women pull ahead slightly, and get farther ahead with each five-year increment. By age 85 and older, they're approaching 2-to-1, with 1.6 million men and 3.1 million women.

For the Census Bureau's latest info on “Age and Sex in the United States” (which is not as risque as it sounds), click here.

Here's a Spokane metro-area map generated for last night's post with a slightly different color key, as well as population figures.

Last night's post discussed the population in Washington's legislative districts and had a statewide map. But we also generated more local maps for analysis. Here's a Spokane County map tied to the same color key.

Spokane-area legislative boundaries could change significantly by next year to make up for population shifts from the city’s urban core to the suburbs.

While much of the attention so far on the 2010 U.S. Census figures has centered on Washington gaining its tenth congressional district, the state’s Redistricting Commission may have even more work to do on redrawing legislative districts. The state isn’t adding to the 49 legislative districts it has had since 1933.

“Ten is easier than 49. There’s more areas to quibble over,” Dean Foster, a member of this year’s commission and the 2000 panel that redrew lines after the previous census…
  

Click here to read the rest of this post or to comment.

Click here to see a detailed map of Spokane County.

Click here to see a detailed map of the Spokane metro area.

Washington gets a new congressional district, upping its population in the U.S. House of Representatives from nine to 10, Census Bureau officials announced today.

Politicians all over the state, from  Gov. Chris Gregoire, a Democrat, to Luke Esser, state Republican Party chairman, are thrilled. And why not? It will create a whole new congressional race in 2012.

“At a critical time in our nation’s history, not only do I welcome the additional representation in our nation’s Capitol, I am pleased Washington state’s share of federal funding to support critical programs like Medicaid and education will also increase,” Gregoire said.

Esser had a slightly different take: “An additional congressional seat gives our state the opportunity to send another voice to Congress to advocate for limited and fiscally conservative federal government. This year our state helped to fire Nancy Pelosi as Speaker of the House…

About two-thirds of Spokane County has returned its census forms, which makes it tied for third among Washington counties in the quasi competition to get the forms filled out and turned in.

At the top are Clallam and Jefferson counties, at 70 percent. Next come Spokane and Asotin counties at 67 percent. Must be something about living on the eastern shore of the Puget Sound, because King, Pierce and Snohomish counties are all at 62 percent.

Among cities, Spokane is on top, tied with Olympia and Wenatchee, at 66 percent, so get at the foam hands with the index figure held high.

A list of cities, from the regional Census Bureau office, is inside the blog. It’s in no particular order, (OK, it’s a very Western Washington view of things with Seattle on top…we’d rearrange them numerically or alphabetically, but it’s really not worth the time)

When Census forms arrive in the mail this week, remember, pride may be at stake.

In the middle part of the last decade, fears rose that Spokane would lose its rank as Washington’s second largest city. But Spokane ended the Aughts (is that what we’re calling them?) about where it started — about 2,000 people ahead of Tacoma, at least according to state estimates

Census figures, however, are what counts most. The numbers for 2010 won’t be released until next year.

Yi Zhao, Washington’s chief demographer, said that because Spokane has about 8,000 more residential units than Tacoma, it appears unlikely that Tacoma will pass Spokane in the near future. But, she added: “You never know.”