Oregon has been whittled down, perhaps not withered. Shouldn’t we find out why?

Oregon’s population declined for the second year in a row, according to estimates from the U.S. Census. It was down about 6,000 people to 4,233,358 in 2023 from 2022.

The numbers from Portland State University’s estimates show growth, but what does the federal government care about? The federal government uses U.S. Census numbers.

U.S. Census numbers can make a difference in many things, including how much money Oregon gets from the federal government and in how many representatives Oregon has in Congress.

Some Oregonians may not care if the population declines or even be happy that the state has fewer people. It is worth finding out who is leaving or might not be coming and why.

Does it tend to be younger people or older?

Does it tend to be the highly educated and the highly skilled?

Is it because of housing prices? Is Portland not as appealing as it once was? Is Oregon not considered business friendly? We are sure some people would like to find a way to blame Democrats because of their control of the state’s politics.

We do know, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, deaths outnumbered births in Oregon and people moving out exceeded people moving in.

Oregon had been until a few years ago a place with regular increases in population.

We are not sure we care if Oregon’s population is increasing or decreasing. But we do want to know why it may be shifting. We want to know what policy levers could be moved and how effective they might be to change whatever is happening.

If our legislators and Gov. Tina Kotek are not equally curious, we think they should be. Whittled down or withered, we should know what’s going on.