New Census report offers demographic, economic data about Manatee

MANATEE — In the past five years, Manatee County’s population became more Hispanic and our salaries stayed about the same — which may be why we’re more likely to be living below the poverty level. But we did become slightly better educated and it became cheaper to own a house.

Those are some of the nuggets found in the 2014 American Community Survey, a trove of new demographic, economic and other data released Thursday by the U.S. Census Bureau.

Taken together and separately, the report allows Manatee’s estimated 335,840 residents to compare their hometown with other cities and counties in the nation.

“The American Community Survey is how America knows what America needs,” Census Bureau Director John H. Thompson said in a statement. “(I)t is the premier source of statistics for anyone needing detailed local information for small towns, neighborhoods and communities both rural and urban.”

Some highlights:

— The number of foreign-born residents in Manatee increased from 36,102 in 2009, or 11.5 percent of 313,011 residents; to 42,068, or 12.5 percent of 335,840 residents. Also, Hispanics made up 15.3 percent of Manatee residents last year, compared to 12.9 percent in 2009.

By comparison, in Sarasota County in 2009, 11.7 percent of residents were foreign born, compared to 12 percent in 2014. Hispanics made up 6.8 percent of Sarasota’s population in 2009, and 8.4 percent last year.

Last year, an estimated 23.3 percent of more than 19.3 million Floridians were Hispanic; compared to 20.6 percent of more than 18.2 million residents in 2009.

— The median annual income in Manatee County increased from $47,935 in 2009 to $49,228 in 2014. In Sarasota, it went from $49,013 in 2009 to $50,304 last year.

Statewide, the median income dropped from $47,750 in 2009 to $47,212 in 2015.

— The percentage of Manatee residents below the poverty level increased from 11.7 percent in 2009 to 14.9 percent last year. In Sarasota, the percentage of residents in poverty went from 9.8 percent in 2009 to 11.8 percent in 2014.

Statewide, the percentage of residents in poverty increased from 13.2 percent in 2009 to 16.7 percent in 2014.

— Manatee and Sarasota were among the 1,000 counties nationwide that saw the percentage of the population 25 and over with a bachelor’s degree increase from 2009 to 2014.

In 2009, 16.4 percent of Manatee residents 25 or older had a bachelor’s degree; in 2014, it was 16.7 percent.

In Sarasota in 2009, 17.8 percent of residents 25 or older had a bachelor’s degree; in 2014, it was 18.4 percent.

Statewide last year, 17.1 percent of residents 25 or older had a bachelor’s degree, compared to 16.6 percent in 2009.

— In Manatee, almost 70.5 percent of the 133,445 housing units in 2014 were owner-occupied, compared to 73.4 percent of the 132,428 units in 2009.

In Sarasota, almost 77.5 percent of the was owner-occupied in 2009; in 2014, it was 73.5 percent.

Last year, only 136 counties in the country had a home ownership of more than 80 percent.

Comparable statewide figures were not available.

— In Manatee, the median monthly mortgage payment for owner-occupied housing in 2014 was $948, compared to $1,057 in 2009. More than 1,100 counties saw mortgage costs drop.

The median monthly payment for rental housing in Manatee stayed about the same, from $933 in 2009 to $936 last year.

The median monthly mortgage payment in Sarasota in 2009 was $1,065; last year it was $894.

The median monthly cost for rental housing in Sarasota in 2009 was $1,002 in 2009, compared to $1,008 last year.

Statewide in 2009, the median monthly mortgage payment was $1,117 and median rent was in $934.

Last year, the amounts, respectively, were $1,036 and $998.

To search the American Community Survey, go to http://factfinder.census.gov/faces/nav/jsf/pages/index.xhtml

This story was originally published December 3, 2015 at 5:33 PM with the headline "New Census report offers demographic, economic data about Manatee ."