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 Washington
Data followed by an * indicates a Significant Difference at the 90 percent level between that data and the data from the most current year.  Data followed by a "c" indicates the estimate for that year and the current year are both controlled; a statistical test is not appropriate.
TABLE 2. SELECTED SOCIAL CHARACTERISTICS
  2003
Estimate		 2002
Estimate		 2001
Estimate		 2000
Estimate
SCHOOL ENROLLMENT
Population 3 years and over enrolled in school
1,545,804
1,572,417
1,514,389
1,534,981
Nursery school, preschool
5.29%
5.27%
5.40%
5.70%
Kindergarten
4.91%
5.02%
5.00%
5.23%
Elementary school (grades 1-8)
43.16%
43.86%
44.55% *
44.57%
High school grade (grades 9-12)
23.31%
22.18%
22.83%
21.67% *
College or graduate school
23.33%
23.67%
22.23%
22.83%
 
EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT
Population 25 years and over
3,945,050
3,881,066 *
3,809,133 *
3,749,855 *
Less than 9th grade
3.44%
3.68%
3.44%
3.44%
9th to 12th grade, no diploma
6.87%
7.17%
7.96% *
7.57%
High school graduate (including equivalency)
25.65%
25.15%
25.36%
25.62%
Some college, no degree
25.43%
25.58%
25.24%
26.04%
Associate degree
8.42%
8.74%
8.46%
7.90%
Bachelor's degree
20.20%
19.56%
19.71%
19.25%
Graduate or professional degree
10.00%
10.11%
9.82%
10.17%
 
Percent high school graduate or higher
89.7
89.1
88.6 *
89.0
Percent bachelor's degree or higher
30.2
29.7
29.5
29.4
 
MARITAL STATUS
Males 15 years and over
2,338,544
2,298,409 *
2,254,670 *
2,205,544 *
Never married
30.29%
29.90%
29.26%
29.11% *
Now married, except separated
55.54%
56.21%
56.41%
56.00%
Separated
1.34%
1.60%
1.40%
1.48%
Widowed
2.27%
1.98%
2.17%
2.64% *
Divorced
10.56%
10.31%
10.76%
10.78%
 
Females 15 years and over
2,421,923
2,381,950 *
2,338,923 *
2,297,644 *
Never married
23.63%
24.09%
23.12%
23.74%
Now married, except separated
52.31%
52.85%
52.89%
53.23%
Separated
1.87%
1.66%
1.81%
1.96%
Widowed
8.08%
8.03%
8.28%
8.19%
Divorced
14.11%
13.37%
13.90%
12.88% *
 
FERTILITY
Number of women 15 to 50 years old who had a birth in the past 12 months
82,283
88,485
81,332
81,630
Unmarried women (widowed, divorced, and never married)
28.67%
26.14%
24.55%
26.40%
Per 1,000 unmarried women
32
32
28
31
As a percent of all women with a birth
28.7
26.1
24.5
26.4
Per 1,000 women 15 to 50 years old
52
56
52
53
Per 1,000 women 15 to 19 years old
25
17
35
16
Per 1,000 women 20 to 34 years old
100
107
94
102
Per 1,000 women 35 to 50 years old
21
26
24
24
 
GRANDPARENTS
Number of grandparents with own grandchildren under 18 years in households
81,026
82,875
85,756
87,899
Responsible for grandchildren
37.85%
41.20%
39.21%
40.31%
 
Characteristics of grandparents responsible for own grandchildren under 18 years
Percent Responsible for grandchildren
less than 1 year
20.42%
19.60%
16.21%
20.19%
1 or 2 years
35.53%
21.63%
32.62%
30.59%
3 or 4 years
9.59%
21.23% *
18.49% *
14.14%
5 or more years
34.46%
37.54%
32.68%
35.08%
 
Percent who are female
57.0
58.8
59.6
60.4
Percent who are married
67.3
68.3
73.2
75.3
Percent who are in labor force
67.7
69.9
63.9
61.2
Percent who are in poverty
7.9
16.6
10.7
13.4
 
VETERAN STATUS
Civilian population 18 years and over
4,473,617
4,395,559 *
4,298,970 *
4,212,145 *
Civilian veterans
14.66%
14.85%
15.61% *
15.50% *
 
RESIDENCE 1 YEAR AGO
Population 1 year and over
5,915,286
5,857,037 *
5,778,921 *
5,688,843 *
Same house
81.12%
81.35%
81.02%
79.79% *
Different house in the U.S.
18.15%
18.04%
18.15%
19.32%
Same county
12.27%
11.44%
11.68%
12.11%
Different county
5.88%
6.61% *
6.46%
7.21% *
Same state
2.76%
3.63% *
3.05%
3.41% *
Different state
3.12%
2.97%
3.41%
3.80%
Abroad
0.72%
0.61%
0.84%
0.89%
 
PLACE OF BIRTH, CITIZENSHIP, AND YEAR OF ENTRY
Total population
5,990,020
5,930,307 c
5,849,311 c
5,757,739 c
Native
89.74%
89.34%
89.78%
89.94%
Born in United States
88.27%
87.85%
88.42%
88.26%
State of residence
47.55%
47.18%
46.94%
47.34%
Different state
40.71%
40.67%
41.49%
40.92%
Born in Puerto Rico, U.S. Island areas, or born abroad to American parent(s)
1.48%
1.49%
1.36%
1.68%
Foreign born
10.26%
10.66%
10.22%
10.06%
Naturalized citizen
44.59%
41.01% *
45.12%
43.13%
Not a citizen
55.41%
58.99%
54.88%
56.87%
Entered 1990 or later
51.45%
53.05%
47.88%
47.02%
Entered before 1990
48.55%
46.95%
52.12%
52.98% *
 
REGION OF BIRTH OF FOREIGN BORN
Foreign-born population with region of birth reported
614,430
632,106
597,956
579,452
Europe
19.75%
21.86%
21.08%
23.07%
Asia
42.92%
39.22% *
42.30%
41.63%
Africa
3.01%
2.99%
3.20%
2.52%
Oceania
2.03%
1.65%
1.52%
1.57%
Latin America
26.18%
27.49%
24.89%
24.17%
Northern America
6.11%
6.78%
7.01%
7.03%
 
LANGUAGE SPOKEN AT HOME
Population 5 years and over
5,600,233
5,535,910 *
5,445,770 *
5,368,838 *
English only
86.27%
85.74%
86.16%
86.39%
Language other than English
13.73%
14.26%
13.84%
13.61%
Speak English less than "very well"
5.65%
6.47% *
5.70%
6.04%
Spanish
5.43%
5.92%
5.66%
5.05%
Speak English less than "very well"
2.53%
2.91%
2.42%
2.36%
Other Indo-European languages
3.23%
3.41%
3.10%
3.28%
Speak English less than "very well"
0.94%
1.22%
0.88%
1.25%
Asian and Pacific Islander languages
4.51%
4.47%
4.53%
4.76%
Speak English less than "very well"
1.98%
2.14%
2.21%
2.28%
Other languages
0.57%
0.45%
0.55%
0.52%
Speak English less than "very well"
0.20%
0.20%
0.19%
0.15%
 
ANCESTRY (TOTAL REPORTED)
Total Population
5,990,020
5,930,307 c
5,849,311 c
5,757,739 c
Arab
0.23%
0.28%
0.22%
0.17%
Czech
0.52%
0.44%
0.58%
0.54%
Danish
1.16%
1.31%
1.42%
1.30%
Dutch
2.56%
2.20% *
2.52%
2.54%
English
14.37%
13.58% *
14.06%
13.99%
French (except Basque)
4.19%
4.40%
4.50%
4.18%
French Canadian
1.00%
1.03%
1.22%
0.82%
German
22.46%
21.95%
21.30%
21.26% *
Greek
0.34%
0.47% *
0.35%
0.35%
Hungarian
0.38%
0.40%
0.36%
0.38%
Irish
13.66%
13.29%
12.70% *
12.41% *
Italian
3.71%
3.88%
3.79%
3.52%
Lithuanian
0.11%
0.20% *
0.19%
0.15%
Norwegian
6.02%
6.24%
7.33% *
6.64% *
Polish
2.06%
1.68% *
2.02%
1.60% *
Portuguese
0.36%
0.43%
0.32%
0.43%
Russian
1.28%
1.19%
1.35%
1.62%
Scotch-Irish
2.87%
2.49% *
2.88%
2.60%
Scottish
3.20%
3.31%
3.56% *
3.30%
Slovak
0.11%
0.06%
0.16%
0.12%
Subsaharan African
0.51%
0.44%
0.49%
0.40%
Swedish
4.10%
4.50%
4.16%
4.35%
Swiss
0.81%
0.50% *
0.59% *
0.73%
Ukrainian
0.43%
0.78% *
0.44%
0.65%
United States or American
5.17%
6.00% *
5.82%
5.31%
Welsh
1.16%
1.16%
1.13%
1.22%
West Indian (excluding Hispanic origin groups)
0.10%
0.10%
0.11%
0.03% *
 
Profile Navigation
  
Viewing 2003 Multiyear Profile for Washington
  Demographic - Table 1
  Social - Table 2
  Economic - Table 3
  Housing - Table 4

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See footnotes below.

Footnotes

The profile universe is limited to the household population and excludes the population living in institutions, college dormitories, and other group quarters. Data are based on a sample and are subject to sampling variability.

Ancestry listed in this table refers to the total number of reports; for example, the estimate given for Russian represents the number of people who listed Russian as either their first or second ancestry. This table lists only the largest ancestry groups; see the Detailed Tables for more categories. Race and Hispanic origin groups are not included in this table because official data for those groups come from the Race and Hispanic origin questions rather than the ancestry question (see Table 1).

1. An '-' entry in an Estimate column indicates that no sample observations were available to compute an estimate.
2. An '-' following a median estimate means the median falls in the lowest interval of an open-ended distribution.
3. An '+' following a median estimate means the median falls in the upper interval of an open-ended distribution.
4. An 'N' entry in an Estimate column indicates that data for this geographic area cannot be displayed because the number of sample cases is too small.

[Excel] or the letters [xls] indicate a document is in the Microsoft® Excel® Spreadsheet Format (XLS). To view the file, you will need the Microsoft® Excel® Viewer This link to a non-federal Web site does not imply endorsement of any particular product, company, or content. available for free from Microsoft®.
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Source: U.S. Census Bureau  |  American Community Survey Office  |  Page Last Modified: August 29, 2007