Island demographics eye opening

I learned some sobering facts about San Juan Island and San Juan County this weekend. I have been working on a grant proposal, and in the process I've been digging into census data and Washington State documents to try to present an accurate demographic picture.

At the community forum we held at the library last Thursday to discuss the concept of Beyond Black and White: the Roots of Intolerance, one of the most provocative questions raised was, "who are the hidden, underground minorities on our island? Who are the marginalized ones?" After staring at statistics for several days until my eyes crossed, I can say with some confidence that one of those groups include people living in poverty.

This may surprise some people, since San Juan County ranks second in the state in terms of personal income. The fact is that, in addition to being second in income, we are also 35th (of 39) in terms of annual average wage. According to the San Juan County Profile, published by the Washington State Employment Security Department, "there is a jarring disparity between the workers in these [part-time and seasonal] sectors who rely upon wages for their income and those (usually retirees) who receive a high level of investment income." Of course, this statement is based on 1999 statistics; the economic downturn we've been experiencing may affect these data significantly - but it will affect the higher-income individuals negatively rather than raising the level of the lower-income residents.

The 2000 census yielded some further evidence. While the average number for people living below the official poverty level on San Juan Island was 7.28%, slightly lower than the national average, this figure is misleading. The unincorporated part of the island has only 4% poverty, while the population within Friday Harbor showed a figure of 12.5% -- higher than the national average of 11.3%. This is concrete evidence of the growth of the economic polarity we are experiencing here.

This doesn't even take into account the higher cost of living we have due to shipping costs and the basic tenet of capitalism known as supply and demand. I do not address that here only because I couldn't find concrete numbers beyond those for the Seattle metro area (if you know of a reliable source of information, please let me know!).

San Juan Island is, on average, a very wealthy community, but don't forget that an average depends on extremes by definition. We have rich and poor and in-between. That's one of the reasons the public library is such a great place - it's free to everyone.

Lauren Stara
Director, San Juan Island Library
phone number 360.378.2798
e-mail lstara@sjlib.org

news @sanjuanislander.com

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Island demographics eye opening