Coastal Watershed County Facts

DRAFT

 

The following page provides time series population summary data and quick facts for U.S. and coastal watershed counties by state. The STICS website provides additional coastal watershed demographic data for 1970-2000 and allows for custom queries and analysis.

Summary Table
Coastal Watershed County Map
Coastal Watershed County Definition
Quick Facts
Download Tables

 

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Summary Table

	1970	1980	1990	2000	2004
United States
US Land Area = 3,537,483 sq. mi.
US Land Area (including U.S. Territories) = 3,539,499 sq. mi.
Total US Population	203,212,879	226,545,806	248,709,772	281,421,906	293,655,404
Total US Population Density (per/ mi2)	57	64	70	80	83
Total US Population (including US Territories)	.	.	.	285,620,445	.
Coastal Watershed Counties
Number of Counties = 673
Number of Counties (including US Territories) = 722
Land Area (including US Territories) = 890,790 sq. mi.
Total Population	109,997,410	119,836,332	133,398,058	148,319,730	154,190,657
Percent of Total US	54%	53%	54%	53%	53%
Population Density (persons per sq. mi.)	124	135	150	167	173
Total Population (including US Territories)	.	.	.	152,063,387	.
Coastal Watershed Population by Coastal State
Alabama	531,447	610,253	640,468	712,381	727,090
Alaska	241,857	335,962	457,932	529,474	555,231
California	17,983,220	21,038,319	26,268,854	29,660,164	31,255,993
Connecticut	3,031,709	3,107,576	3,287,116	3,405,565	3,503,604
District of Columbia	756,510	638,333	606,900	572,059	553,523
Delaware	548,101	594,338	666,168	783,600	830,364
Florida	6,599,367	9,473,101	12,601,588	15,567,687	16,962,576
Georgia	606,779	665,290	750,789	873,220	956,191
Hawaii	768,561	964,691	1,108,229	1,211,537	1,262,840
Illinois	5,870,966	5,694,027	5,621,485	6,021,097	6,020,672
Indiana	1,230,841	1,275,602	1,274,936	1,378,273	1,406,960
Louisiana	2,786,088	3,253,489	3,291,798	3,509,529	3,555,628
Maine	883,300	1,015,695	1,122,339	1,183,750	1,226,338
Maryland	3,628,123	3,882,051	4,406,783	4,864,510	5,096,786
Massachusetts	5,505,979	5,533,907	5,799,765	6,125,311	6,190,376
Michigan	7,883,243	8,207,348	8,250,945	8,858,872	9,015,424
Minnesota	265,539	269,300	241,755	248,425	248,310
Mississippi	395,504	471,857	499,035	577,735	607,635
New Hampshire	565,163	721,478	890,782	1,006,649	1,062,479
New Jersey	7,094,285	7,280,394	7,638,581	8,311,913	8,588,861
New York	16,634,286	15,860,314	16,239,249	17,221,925	17,450,589
North Carolina	1,404,929	1,598,244	1,756,046	1,984,695	2,049,151
Ohio	4,527,970	279,780	275,572	280,843	4,411,387
Oregon	1,267,839	1,506,201	1,584,675	1,807,961	1,868,809
Pennsylvania	5,590,137	9,383,757	9,436,113	9,786,255	6,142,044
Rhode Island	948,845	947,154	1,003,464	1,048,319	1,080,632
South Carolina	1,054,484	1,288,020	1,455,032	1,653,346	1,738,372
Texas	3,607,130	4,788,065	5,563,982	6,829,792	7,408,378
Virginia	2,958,721	3,396,106	4,152,476	4,793,666	5,073,166
Washington	2,570,392	3,109,152	3,776,852	4,587,173	4,831,986
Wisconsin	2,256,095	2,267,951	2,322,406	2,469,122	2,509,262
American Samoa	.	.	.	57,291	.
Guam	.	.	.	154,805	.
Northern Mariana Islands	.	.	.	69,221	.
Puerto Rico	.	.	.	3,808,610	.
US Virgin Islands	.	.	.	108,612	.
Housing Characteristics (including US Territories)
Total US Housing Units	.	.	.	117,448,614	.
Total US Seasonal Housing Units	.	.	.	3,907,517	.
Total Coastal Watershed Housing Units	.	.	.	61,529,425	.
Percent of Total US	.	.	.	52%	.
Total Coastal Watershed Seasonal Homes	.	.	.	2,107,742	.
Percent of Total US	.	.	.	54%	.

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Location of the Coastal Watershed Counties and Coastal Watersheds

Coastal Watershed County Definition

A county is considered a coastal watershed county if one of the following criteria is met: (1) at a minimum, 15 percent of the countyís total land area is located within a coastal watershed or (2) a portion of or an entire county accounts for at least 15 percent of a coastal cataloging unit.

The five counties that make up the state of Hawaii are all considered coastal watershed counties because they fall within 8-digit USGS cataloging units (as seen on the map). Coastal watersheds for Alaska are not depicted in the map. NOAA coastal watersheds were not developed for the state Alaska, however, the counties or boroughs (a county equivalent) that fall on the shoreline are considered coastal watershed counties because they contain or are contained within 8-digit USGS cataloging units that also fall directly on the shoreline.

Quick Facts

• It was estimated that in 2004, 154 million people (53 percent of the Nationís population) lived in the 673 U.S. coastal counties (17 percent of the total land area excluding Alaska). This is just over the combined population of the states of California, Florida, New York, Illinois, Texas, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, and Georgia.

• Coastal population increased by 34 million people from 1980 to 2004.

• Los Angeles County, CA (2.5 million); Harris County, TX (Houston-Galveston Bay area) (1.2 million); and Riverside County, CA (1.2 million) had the greatest increases in population from 1980 to 2003.

• In 2000, coastal counties contained 52 percent of the Nationís total housing supply.

• At the county level, Los Angeles County, CA, had the most housing units at approximately 3.3 million.

• In 2000, approximately one quarter (0.5 million) of coastal seasonal homes were found in Florida.

Download Detailed Files

Coastal Watershed County Population and Housing Data:

Excel file (105 Kb)
Tab delimited text file (48 Kb)

US Territory Population and Housing Data (total Puerto Rico figures are presented, all municipios in Puerto Rico are considered coastal watershed county equivalents)

Excel file (15 Kb)
Tab delimited text file (1 Kb)

Detailed Puerto Rico Population and Housing Data (by municipio)

Excel file (20 Kb)
Tab delimited text file (4 Kb)