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 Contra Costa County
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
269,081
278,456
273,467
272,905
Nursery school, preschool
5.63%
5.71%
6.14%
6.28%
Kindergarten
4.92%
5.98%
5.83%
3.82%
Elementary school (grades 1-8)
44.29%
40.43% *
43.84%
43.58%
High school grade (grades 9-12)
21.51%
23.06%
21.57%
19.93%
College or graduate school
23.65%
24.82%
22.62%
26.38%
 
EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT
Population 25 years and over
649,906
641,601 *
621,545 *
614,833 *
Less than 9th grade
5.40%
6.60%
5.46%
4.41%
9th to 12th grade, no diploma
5.17%
7.03% *
6.20%
6.46%
High school graduate (including equivalency)
20.92%
18.25% *
19.38%
19.17%
Some college, no degree
21.77%
23.23%
24.07% *
24.73% *
Associate degree
8.05%
8.97%
7.47%
8.75%
Bachelor's degree
24.94%
21.93% *
25.21%
24.50%
Graduate or professional degree
13.74%
13.99%
12.21%
11.99%
 
Percent high school graduate or higher
89.4
86.4 *
88.3
89.1
Percent bachelor's degree or higher
38.7
35.9
37.4
36.5
 
MARITAL STATUS
Males 15 years and over
373,138
368,267 *
359,748 *
352,052 *
Never married
30.75%
30.52%
31.07%
30.87%
Now married, except separated
56.82%
60.44% *
58.47%
59.27%
Separated
1.68%
1.41%
0.78% *
1.67%
Widowed
1.44%
1.93%
1.73%
2.03%
Divorced
9.31%
5.70% *
7.95%
6.16% *
 
Females 15 years and over
403,272
395,012 *
381,302 *
375,099 *
Never married
23.49%
25.17%
22.98%
22.26%
Now married, except separated
52.62%
53.90%
54.30%
53.60%
Separated
2.03%
1.50%
2.71%
3.57% *
Widowed
8.86%
8.16%
8.25%
7.89%
Divorced
13.00%
11.26%
11.76%
12.68%
 
FERTILITY
Number of women 15 to 50 years old who had a birth in the past 12 months
14,153
18,622
13,979
17,403
Unmarried women (widowed, divorced, and never married)
20.86%
29.23%
21.60%
22.85%
Per 1,000 unmarried women
24
47
29
39
As a percent of all women with a birth
20.9
29.2
21.6
22.9
Per 1,000 women 15 to 50 years old
55
73
56
71
Per 1,000 women 15 to 19 years old
15
43
19
80
Per 1,000 women 20 to 34 years old
114
138
95
108
Per 1,000 women 35 to 50 years old
22
36
39
44 *
 
GRANDPARENTS
Number of grandparents with own grandchildren under 18 years in households
17,749
23,087
22,787
24,634
Responsible for grandchildren
42.07%
12.82% *
50.60%
45.58%
 
Characteristics of grandparents responsible for own grandchildren under 18 years
Percent Responsible for grandchildren
less than 1 year
11.91%
0.00%
30.72%
31.36%
1 or 2 years
33.56%
37.78%
19.44%
14.63%
3 or 4 years
10.70%
7.74%
20.69%
26.02%
5 or more years
43.83%
54.48%
29.15%
28.00%
 
Percent who are female
58.1
81.6 *
54.3
59.5
Percent who are married
82.6
76.5
77.6
88.7
Percent who are in labor force
83.9
57.9
57.8 *
44.3 *
Percent who are in poverty
13.3
0.0
27.4
2.0
 
VETERAN STATUS
Civilian population 18 years and over
733,588
720,200 *
698,489 *
686,338 *
Civilian veterans
10.26%
10.34%
11.36%
11.79% *
 
RESIDENCE 1 YEAR AGO
Population 1 year and over
977,057
965,203 *
952,643 *
925,185 *
Same house
83.22%
83.34%
86.20% *
84.88%
Different house in the U.S.
16.02%
15.63%
12.64% *
14.47%
Same county
11.36%
8.62% *
6.68% *
6.98% *
Different county
4.65%
7.01% *
5.96%
7.50% *
Same state
3.43%
5.13% *
5.02%
5.86% *
Different state
1.22%
1.88%
0.94%
1.63%
Abroad
0.76%
1.03%
1.16%
0.64%
 
PLACE OF BIRTH, CITIZENSHIP, AND YEAR OF ENTRY
Total population
989,855
981,043 c
964,196 c
937,479 c
Native
77.68%
77.89%
78.36%
82.32% *
Born in United States
76.37%
76.16%
77.27%
81.47% *
State of residence
54.31%
53.48%
53.30%
55.83%
Different state
22.06%
22.68%
23.97% *
25.63% *
Born in Puerto Rico, U.S. Island areas, or born abroad to American parent(s)
1.32%
1.73%
1.09%
0.85%
Foreign born
22.32%
22.11%
21.64%
17.68% *
Naturalized citizen
49.94%
41.18% *
46.41%
47.34%
Not a citizen
50.06%
58.82% *
53.59%
52.66%
Entered 1990 or later
48.43%
46.80%
46.18%
37.67% *
Entered before 1990
51.57%
53.20%
53.82%
62.33% *
 
REGION OF BIRTH OF FOREIGN BORN
Foreign-born population with region of birth reported
220,894
216,879
208,679
165,782 *
Europe
11.92%
11.21%
11.79%
13.32%
Asia
42.63%
40.10%
41.80%
43.33%
Africa
0.91%
0.89%
4.70% *
2.17%
Oceania
0.54%
0.94%
0.78%
1.10%
Latin America
40.78%
41.59%
38.30%
38.26%
Northern America
3.22%
5.27%
2.63%
1.81%
 
LANGUAGE SPOKEN AT HOME
Population 5 years and over
923,663
912,757 *
894,911 *
871,898 *
English only
71.67%
71.32%
72.55%
75.37% *
Language other than English
28.33%
28.68%
27.45%
24.63% *
Speak English less than "very well"
13.10%
12.87%
12.83%
9.24% *
Spanish
14.69%
15.28%
12.79% *
12.15% *
Speak English less than "very well"
7.74%
7.40%
7.26%
5.31% *
Other Indo-European languages
5.02%
5.60%
5.96%
4.00%
Speak English less than "very well"
1.91%
1.89%
1.56%
1.14%
Asian and Pacific Islander languages
7.91%
7.62%
8.14%
7.82%
Speak English less than "very well"
3.30%
3.46%
3.89%
2.68%
Other languages
0.71%
0.19% *
0.56%
0.65%
Speak English less than "very well"
0.14%
0.12%
0.13%
0.10%
 
ANCESTRY (TOTAL REPORTED)
Total Population
989,855
981,043 c
964,196 c
937,479 c
Arab
0.74%
0.35%
0.60%
0.62%
Czech
0.29%
0.54%
0.52%
0.38%
Danish
1.01%
1.25%
1.35%
1.08%
Dutch
0.92%
1.61% *
1.69% *
1.25%
English
10.27%
11.50%
10.18%
10.92%
French (except Basque)
3.65%
2.73%
2.30% *
3.01%
French Canadian
0.26%
0.31%
0.33%
0.11%
German
12.44%
14.11%
14.89% *
11.33%
Greek
0.72%
0.54%
0.78%
0.63%
Hungarian
0.41%
0.28%
0.59%
0.30%
Irish
10.36%
9.82%
10.43%
9.83%
Italian
7.49%
7.05%
6.73%
5.98% *
Lithuanian
0.29%
0.24%
0.09%
0.16%
Norwegian
2.10%
2.32%
2.26%
2.30%
Polish
2.09%
1.47%
2.15%
1.22% *
Portuguese
2.48%
2.06%
2.08%
1.89%
Russian
1.52%
1.30%
1.70%
1.34%
Scotch-Irish
1.77%
1.60%
1.71%
1.77%
Scottish
2.19%
2.22%
1.75%
2.56%
Slovak
0.10%
0.09%
0.06%
0.11%
Subsaharan African
1.48%
0.11% *
1.37%
0.66% *
Swedish
2.47%
1.74%
2.00%
2.17%
Swiss
0.32%
0.62%
0.55%
0.46%
Ukrainian
0.18%
0.55% *
0.41%
0.19%
United States or American
2.15%
1.72%
2.67%
6.85% *
Welsh
0.77%
1.03%
0.78%
1.09%
West Indian (excluding Hispanic origin groups)
0.28%
0.24%
0.05%
0.37%
 
Profile Navigation
  
Viewing 2003 Multiyear Profile for Contra Costa County
  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