EDITOR’S NOTE | By Bret Bradigan

Ojai by the Numbers: Older, Richer and Fewer

Bret Bradigan, editor & publisher, Ojai Quarterly and Ojai Monthly

The first U.S. Census was begun in 1790 just about a year after George Washington began his first term. It asked six questions,  the name of the head of family and the number of people in household of following descriptions, free white males age 16 and above, free white males under 16, free white females and all other free persons by sex and color, and slaves. The total population at the time was 3,893,635 of which almost 700,000 were slaves.

Now, California alone has more than 10 times the population of the entire country in 1790, as we rapidly close in on 40 million (now at 39,536,653), which will probably happen by the 2020 Census. Even Ojai has seen a slight gain of just over 100 people in the 2017 estimates of 7,561, versus 2010’s actual count of 7,461.  That could be statistical noise, or it could be a signal of a new wave of residents, drawn by Ojai’s mystique and its relative affordability when compared to our neighbors on the coast.

Fascinating information lies within the daunting tables of numbers from the 2017 estimate. We think of Ojai as being affluent, but nearly 11 percent of our residents (and this is within the city limits) live in poverty, very nearly the same rate as the state’s 13.3 percent. Another worrisome fact is that 18.4 percent of our residents are under age 65 and have no health insurance. The state rate is 8.1 percent, well more than double and contrary to other indicators of our relative affluence (46.9 percent of our population has a bachelor’s degree and above, compared to 32 percent in the state as a whole, and our per capita income is $38,215 versus $31,458 in the state (though our household income is essentially even with our statewide cohort, we have fewer people per household, 2.54 versus 2.95).

We are much whiter than the state; 79.1 percent versus 37.2 percent for the state; where 39.1 percent is Hispanic compared to Ojai’s 16.4 percent.

We are also older by a large share than the state, 19.6 percent of us are age 65 and older, nearly one in five, compared to California’s 13.9 percent.

We live in a world where facts and relevant information are being systematically discredited, and even the Census Bureau is not immune. The Department of Justice is asking the bureau to insert a question about citizenship into the 2020 survey, claiming it will help enforce voting rights, but it will also create an undercount as undocumented people opt out for credible fears of being identified and deported. “The purpose of the census is to count people, not citizens,” the Los Angeles Times recently put it.

As Benjamin Disraeli said, “There are lies, damned lies and statistics.” Though statistics tell us very little about who we in Ojai are as a community, they are a good place to start the conversation. From good information can flow good policies.