About

The footprint of Western Oregon’s Benton, Lincoln, and Linn Counties spans nearly 4,000 square miles, is home to over 255,000 individuals, and encompasses diverse economic, geographic, and cultural attributes. From the foothills of the Cascades to the Central Oregon Coast, with the fertile Willamette Valley in between, this is a region of exciting opportunities and unique challenges.

This seminal State of the Region highlights trends, connections, and indicators related to the people and the economy of our region, including migration, agriculture, business patents, philanthropic investments, and more. Findings are developed and illustrated through a rigorous data collection process undertaken over the past year by a project team at the Oregon Cascades West Council of Governments.

Our goals for the State of the Region are:

1. To capture data related to our region, present it, and make it available in easy-to-use, scalable, and interactive formats. The data are not meant to be comprehensive, but rather to provide a snapshot and encourage future conversations.
2. To build internal and external capacity in data collection, maintenance, and visualization.
3. To provide decision-makers with data to help set the stage for policy and program decisions concerning our collective priorities, investments, and vision.

About OCWCOG

The Oregon Cascades West Council of Governments (OCWCOG) has served the region since the 1970s. OCWCOG is a regional planning and service delivery organization with offices in Albany, Corvallis, and Toledo, and over 160 staff members. OCWCOG conducts projects and provides services on behalf of its members, which include 21 cities, three counties, the Confederated Tribes of the Siletz Indians, and the Port of Newport. OCWCOG’s work is diverse and includes senior and disability services, veterans programs, business services, economic development, business lending, and transportation planning.

About the Data

The data in this report come from a variety of sources such as the U.S. Census Bureau, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Oregon State University, Oregon Department of Education, and many other federal, state, and local sources. No primary data collection was completed for this document. All data are publicly available from the respective sources; no confidential data were used. Most of the data in this document are based on sample surveys and are subject to sampling variability. Readers are encouraged to refer to the original data sources for details on methodology, including sampling variability, margins of error, and statistical significance. Data in some tables and charts may not add due to rounding (e.g. percentages may add to 99 or 100). The target timeframe for this report is the period from 2004 to 2014, although not all data were available for this reference period. The most recent available data as of July 1, 2015 were used.

Data Sources

Acronym List