Memories of 2000 on the Eve of 2010 Census
Memories of 2000 on the Eve of 2010 Census
By SCOTT TAYLOR
Falls Church Times Staff
The year 2000…Y2K: computing chaos was forecast in anticipation of computers’ internal clocks rolling over on January 1st. The dawn of the 21st century – well, not really. That was 2001. Charles M. Schulz died and the last original Peanuts comic strip was published on February 13th. The sport of geocaching was born. A law, enacted by the Virginia General Assembly and effective July 1, 2000, allowed cities and towns to move their May elections to November. Coverage in the Falls Church News Press discussed engagement between the Falls Church Episcopal and the City Council to modify East Fairfax Drive to accommodate the church’s development plans.
These events may evoke vivid memories for some, but are of course completely absent from the federal government databases that store the results of the 2000 census. In twelve days, the official forms for the 2010 Census will be mailed to households in the City of Falls Church and across the country.
The census is a source of controversy for some; the reality is an accurate head count is critical to numerous governmental processes from apportionment of state representation in the U.S. House of Representatives to the allocation of federal funding for social and economic programs. As Falls Church City tackles the fiscal challenges associated with its demography in 2010, here are some of the City’s numbers from 2000.
How many lived in the City? Total population: 10,377. Total population (2008 update): 11,169. This reflects an average trend of just over one hundred people moving into the City each year and could put the 2010 total population over 11,400.
Who lived in the City, circa 2000? There were 5,049 men, 5,328 women. Residents who identified themselves as: White 8,817; Hispanic or Latino 876; Asian 675; Black or African American 340; American Indian or Alaska Native 25; Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander 7. “Some other race” was reported at 261.
Residents aged 5 to 19 (most K-12 school aged) numbered 2,003. Median age was 39.7. Residents aged 65 or older numbered 1,262.
For those aged 25 or older, 137 reported less than a 9th grade education. The percentage with a high school degree or higher was 95.9%. Percentage with bachelor’s degree or higher was 63.7%.
Nineteen percent of the population reported speaking a language other than English at home, which equates to 1,822 people over the age of five.
How City residents lived in 2000. Total families described as a married couple, 2,107, of which 1,053 reported living with children under 18 years of age. Women (single parents) with children under 18 years of age numbered 383. Nonfamily households, 1,849. Average household size was 2.31 with the average family size at 3.01.
There were 2,434 single family owner-occupied homes. The median home value was $277,100. No homes were identified with a value of $1 million or greater.
The Economic Facts of Life in 2000. The median household income (1999 dollars) was $74,924. The median family income (1999 dollars) was $97,225. The mean travel time to work was 26.4 minutes, which exceeded the national mean of 25.5. Individuals in the City living below the poverty level, 432.
Many have felt the impact of the extraordinary times that have been recorded over the decade since these numbers were collected and analyzed. Before too long, the City will have new census numbers to factor into their budgeting and planning, but those numbers are unlikely to communicate much that is unexpected about life in the City of Falls Church.
Census forms will be mailed nationwide in March. April 1, 2010, is National Census Day – the target date for returning the completed forms. From April to June, census workers will canvass residences that did not return the forms through the mail.