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43 Orange County Comprehensive Parks and Recreation Master Plan CHAPTER 5 - Demographics and Driving Factors 5 Table 5-13: Race/Ethnic Origin-2010/2012 Census Estimate Race/Ethnicity Orange Chapel Hill Carrboro Hillsborough Mebane County(2012)6 • • Black or African-American(alone) 12.2% 9.7% 10.1% 29.5% 20.4% American Indian or Alaska Native 0.6% 0.3% 0.4% 0.6% 0.5% Asian(alone) 7.3% 11.9% 8.2% 1.7% 1.2% Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander(alone) 0.1% 0 0 0 0.1% White(alone) 77.4% 72.8% 70.9% 62.9% 73.5% Two or More Races 2.5% 2.7% 2.9% 2.1% 2.6% Hispanic or Latino' 8.2% 6.4% 13.8% 6.6% 6.0% Age,Gender and Racial Composition Other (Votes - Existing Demographic Data and (continued) Historical Trends The racial and ethnic distribution of the County Additional information may be found in Appendix population has seen two important changes in the 5-1. Some other items worthy of note for this plan last 20 years: include: • A marked growth in persons of Hispanic origin • Orange County is among the most highly-educated • A marked growth in persons of Asian descent counties in the United States. Just under 25%, or one in four, of the county's adult residents hold a bachelor's Table 5-D shows the racial and ethnic origin degree or higher. When that calculation is changed to population of Orange County as of the 2012 US include "persons of age 25 and over between 2007- Census estimates (county) or the 2010 Census 2011," the figure increases to 54.6% with a bachelor's (towns).' degree or higher. While such comparative tabulations are no longer kept by the US Census Bureau, in 1990, Comparing the 2010/2012 data to that of the 2000 Orange County was the 8th most-educated county in the Census, one sees that for Orange County as a whole, U.S. Almost 30% of the adult population of the county the Asian and Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander has attained a graduate or professional degree categories (previously one category in the 2000 (compared to 8.5%of the state's adult population). Census) have increased from 4.1% of the population • The County also has a higher-than-average median to 7.4% in only 12 years. In Chapel Hill, the Asian family income.The median household income measured population has grown from 7.6% in 2000 to 11.9% in from 2007-2011 in Orange County was $56,055, almost 2010 (it was 1% in 1980). The Black or African- $10,000 (and 22%) higher than the state median house- American and White population percentages of the hold income of$46,291. total population have decreased during the same • However, this high median income figure masks an un- timeframe. derlying issue -the county also has 16.9%of its persons living below the federal poverty level. It is important to Likewise, the number of persons of Hispanic or note that this figure is skewed by the presence of large Latino ethnicity has grown from 4.5% of the county numbers of college students in and around UNC, but it population in 2000, to 8.2% in 2012. It is important also represents a polarized income structure within the to note that some of the racial categories used by county which includes substantial cohorts of both high income and low income persons and households. the Census Bureau have changed since the 2000 . In 2005, private industry employed slightly over half of Census, so comparisons should be drawn carefully the Orange County population. The state government to make sure consistent groups are being generates nearly half of the annual wages in the county, mainly due to the County's largest employers -Universi- ty of North Carolina and UNC HealthCare. 5-5