|
Historically, Lane County's economy has been based on timber and agriculture. Timber is important because the county's extensive acerage in timber. Agriculture is important because of the fertile soil and moderate climate that exists in the Willamette Valley, making this valley one of the most productive farming areas in the nation. However, with the reductions in timber harvesting, and the continued pressure of population growth on many agricultural areas, these have become less important in the economic development of the county.
Growth in the next decades is predicted to shift away from these two pursuits to services, manufacturing of transportation equipment, printing and publishing, and high technology. A major economic asset for the county is the University of Oregon[?] in Eugene. Finally, with access to the mountains and the coast, tourism contributes to the county's economy.
There are 130,453 households out of which 28.50% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 48.90% are married couples living together, 10.00% have a female householder with no husband present, and 37.00% are non-families. 26.60% of all households are made up of individuals and 9.10% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 2.42 and the average family size is 2.92.
In the county, the population is spread out with 22.90% under the age of 18, 12.00% from 18 to 24, 27.50% from 25 to 44, 24.40% from 45 to 64, and 13.30% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 37 years. For every 100 females there are 96.90 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 94.70 males.
The median income for a household in the county is $36,942, and the median income for a family is $45,111. Males have a median income of $34,358 versus $25,103 for females. The per capita income for the county is $19,681. 14.40% of the population and 9.00% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total people living in poverty, 16.10% are under the age of 18 and 7.50% are 65 or older.
It has been vastly reduced from its original size by several boundary changes. One of the first changes gave it access to the Pacific Ocean when it acquired the northern part of Umpqua County in 1853. With the creation of Wasco County in 1854, it lost all of its territory east of the Cascade Mountains. Minor boundary changes occurred with Douglas County in 1852, 1885, 1903, 1915, and 1917; with Linn County in 1907; and with Benton County in 1923.
wikipedia.org dumped 2003-03-17 with terodump