2025 South Coast Population Estimates Show Population Loss
January 06, 2026Portland State University’s (PSU) Population Research Center recently released their certified population estimates for Oregon, its counties, and incorporated cities. These data are the population estimates as of July 1. These were revised slightly from the preliminary estimates released in mid-November and were subject to public comment and review for about one month. Historically, there have not been large changes between the preliminary and final published figures.
Newly released numbers show the South Coast continuing to lose residents again through July 1, 2025, as we did in the year ending July 1, 2024, but at a brisker pace than the prior year. After rising slightly in 2021 and 2022, Coos County population estimates show slight declines from 2022-2025, for a net loss of 156 residents over the prior five years, or a -0.2% drop to reach 65,124 residents. Curry County’s population gained residents from July 1, 2020 to July 1, 2023. However, the two most recent annual estimates show population loss. PSU estimates the county lost 283 residents, or a loss of -1.2% in the most recent year ending July 1, 2025, for a total population of 23,375. This follows a smaller loss of 58 residents from July 1, 2023 to July 1, 2024.
Data from the Decennial Census show that Coos County’s population in 2020 was 64,929, an increase of 1,886 residents or up by 3.0% from the 2010 Census. This differed from the PSU intercensal figures for Coos County published in their 2020 Population Report, which had the county up by about 250 residents over the 10-year period. In Curry County, the 2020 Census put the county’s population at 23,446 which was about 400 more than what the PSU estimates showed for that year, based on the 2010 Census and estimating each year’s population over the following decade. We really don’t know the most accurate population numbers until the decennial census is published once a decade.
The other source of population estimates for years between the decennial census comes from the U.S. Census Bureau. The Census Bureau estimated Coos County’s population at 64,326 as of July 1, 2024, compared to the PSU estimated population of 65,233. PSU estimated Curry County’s population at 23,658 and the Census Bureau estimate was 22,774, also a bit of discrepancy between dueling estimate figures. The Census Bureau released their 2024 county population estimates in March 2025 and will likely release their 2025 county-level population estimates in March 2026.
Coos County’s population growth rate has lagged the statewide trend since 2021. Since July 1, 2020, the state’s population has grown by 1.4% while Coos County’s population slipped by -0.2%, down by 156 people. Curry County’s population change from 2020 to 2025 was -0.6%, decreasing by 137 residents.
Cities and Towns
Most city areas showed either no change or slight growth between 2024 and 2025 at the South Coast with the exception being Port Orford, which lost 107 residents. Coos Bay gained an estimated 21 new residents, or an increase of 0.1% and adjacent North Bend added an estimated six new residents.
| City | July 1, 2024 Population | July 1, 2025 Population | Net Change | Percent Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bandon | 3,773 | 3,773 | 0 | 0.0% |
| Coos Bay | 16,183 | 16,204 | 21 | 0.1% |
| Coquille | 4,048 | 4,052 | 4 | 0.1% |
| Lakeside | 1,916 | 1,924 | 8 | 0.4% |
| Myrtle Point | 2,495 | 2,497 | 2 | 0.1% |
| North Bend | 10,396 | 10,402 | 6 | 0.1% |
| Brookings | 6,838 | 6,850 | 12 | 0.2% |
| Gold Beach | 2,410 | 2,417 | 7 | 0.3% |
| Port Orford | 1,167 | 1,060 | -107 | -10.1% |
The South Coast population trends and growth rates have mirrored the overall slowing that Oregon experienced in the period after the Covid pandemic but have lagged even Oregon’s slowing population growth trend. Rising deaths over births and slowing in-migration have likely had the effect of the stalling South Coast population growth rate in recent years. Factors that may be causing slowing in the growth rate could be rising home and rental prices, lack of housing availability and low vacancy rates, and the growing trend toward slower overall migration and staying in homes longer as interest rates on home mortgages are well above their generational lows.
Much more detailed data will be available when PSU’s Population Research Center releases their annual population report for 2025 a bit later, such as population by age and components of population change. For more information see: https://www.pdx.edu/population-research/population-estimate-reports.