An Overview of Ethnicity and Race in Eastern Oregon
September 23, 2024The U.S. Census Bureau collects data on ethnicity and race following standards and classifications set forth by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). Data is gathered through surveys where respondents are asked to self-identify. On March 28, 2024, the OMB issued updated standards for the future collection of data on race and ethnicity. The data for this article is from the 2022 American Community Survey five-year estimates (the most recent published), which was collected under the previous guidelines.
Under the previous OMB guidelines, ethnicity and race were considered two separate and distinct concepts. The question of ethnicity pertained only to whether an individual is of Hispanic origin. A person could choose to identify their ethnicity as either not of Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish origin, or they could choose to identify as yes, Mexican, Mexican American, Chicano; yes, Puerto Rican; yes, Cuban; or yes, another Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish origin.
Separate from ethnicity, individuals were also asked to identify their race. Regardless of how they answered the ethnicity question, a person could choose to identify as one or more of the following racial groups: American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian, Black or African American, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, white, or some other race. This means that people could record their ethnicity and their race in many combinations because the two were not dependent on each other. This also means that individuals of Hispanic origin are included in the race data as well as the ethnicity data. However, because of the racial categories available under the previous OMB guidelines, the Hispanic population is largely counted in the white category when it comes to race, with smaller shares counted in other categories.
Strong Hispanic and Latino Representation in Three Counties
Eastern Oregon’s Hispanic population numbered 41,291 and accounted for 21.9% of the region’s total population in 2022, significantly higher than the state’s overall Hispanic population (13.8%). Most Hispanic residents on the east side of the state are clustered in three counties. Morrow County had the largest share of county residents identify as Hispanic or Latino: 38.3% of the county’s total population. Malheur County had a slightly smaller representation at 35.0% of the county’s total population. Umatilla County saw the Hispanic population comprise the smallest share (28.0%) of total population among the three counties. Umatilla, however, was home to the largest number of Hispanic and Latino residents at 22,413: twice as many as Malheur and roughly five times that of Morrow.
Hispanic representation is dramatically lower in Eastern Oregon’s remaining five counties. Harney saw the largest share in 2022 with 5.5% of residents claiming Hispanic heritage. Wallowa had the smallest share with 3.8%. Union County was home to the largest population of Hispanic residents among the five-county group with 1,368, which accounted for 5.2% of the county’s total population.
American Indian and Alaska Native, Largest Non-White Race
Self-identified racial groupings reveal that Eastern Oregon was predominantly white in 2022, as was the state overall. In Eastern Oregon, 80.8% of residents identified as white, while 78.7% of Oregon residents identified as white. This didn’t change much among the individual counties. Morrow was at the low end with 70.0% of residents identifying their race as white. Baker was at the high end with 90.9% of residents identifying as white.
American Indian or Alaska Native was the second largest single race designation in the region. Umatilla County, which is home to the Confederated Tribes of Umatilla (Cayuse, Umatilla, Walla Walla), had 3.2% of the county’s population (2,559 people) identify as American Indian or Alaska Native; the largest share in Eastern Oregon. Harney County, which is home to the Burns Paiute Tribe, had 0.9% of the population (71 people) identify as American Indian or Alaska Native. Wallowa County, which was once home to the Nez Perce and lies southwest of the Nez Perce Indian Reservation in Idaho, had the smallest share: 0.7% percent of the population. Malheur County (2.3%) and Baker County (1.4%) had the second and third largest shares of their population identify as American Indian or Alaska Native, while Morrow, Union, and Grant counties averaged 0.9% of their populations identifying as American Indian or Alaska Native.
The Asian population accounted for more than a 1.0% share in Union and Malheur counties, but less than 1.0% in the other six counties. The Black or African American population accounted for a 1.2% share in Baker County and a 1.0% share in Union and Wallowa, but less than 1.0% in the other five counties. And the Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander population accounted for more than a 1.0% share only in Union County at 1.4%.
Multiple Race Designations Reveal Stronger Diversity
The single race designation fails to show the scope of racial diversity in Eastern Oregon and fails to account for the actual size of the American Indian and Alaska Native population in the region. This is due to a sizeable share of the population not identifying as one of the OMB’s five standard, single race designations. Instead, 8.7% of the region’s population identifies as two or more races while another 6.3% of the population identifies as some other race. These two categories, left as they are, obscure the region’s diversity unless we unpack them.
Within the two or more races designation, there are four standard categories as seen in the accompanying chart. The share of residents who identify as white and American Indian or Alaska Native is sizeable in each county. A small share of Black or African American and American Indian or Alaskan Native is also seen in one county. Harney County, for instance, had 4.4% of the county’s total population identify as white and American Indian or Alaska Native in 2022, while 0.9% of the county’s population identified as American Indian or Alaska Native only. This addition reveals that 5.3% of the county’s population actually identifies as having American Indian or Alaska Native heritage, a much more sizeable share than the 0.9% represented in the single race category. Details from the two or more races category in Umatilla reveal the share of the population with American Indian or Alaska Native heritage is 5.3% rather than 3.2%. Malheur County gains another 1.8%, Morrow County gains 1.7%, and Grant County gains 1.6%, bringing the three counties to 4.1%, 2.6%, and 2.4%, respectively. Eastern Oregon overall gains 1.8%, bringing the total share of residents with American Indian or Alaska Native heritage to 3.9%. The Asian population also sees an increase, as does the Black or African American population with the addition of the white and Asian, and the white and Black or African American details.
Perhaps one of the most significant obscurities comes to light when we begin to examine the some other race category. This category captures the number of residents who don’t identify as any of the OMB’s standard racial categories, for example, people who identify as Brazilian, Belizean, or French Guianese. The some other race category also includes people who select this category without also identifying their heritage or country of origin.
The U.S. Census Bureau has conducted research to discover the racial heritage of this group and found that most respondents in the some other race category are of Hispanic or Latino ethnicity. Many people who identify as Hispanic or Latino feel they are not represented by any of the standard racial categories, so they choose to identify as some other race. Those who identify as some other race and provide an answer that identifies Hispanic or Latino origin, such as Puerto Rican, Mexican, or Cuban are recategorized as white. Those who identify as some other race and don’t provide a specific answer remain in the some other race category.
The Census data on ethnicity and race does allow us to sort by Hispanic or Latino origin and race together in a limited capacity without double counting. In essence, this allows for a comparison of the standard racial categories, with the inclusion of Hispanic or Latino (of any race) as if this was also a racial category. With the inclusion of this category, we get a large shift in the white share of Eastern Oregon’s population. Viewing race in this way reduces the share of the region’s population identifying as white from 80.8% to 70.8%.
Moving Forward
This is just a broad overview of ethnicity and race in Eastern Oregon focused on where most of this data comes from and how the data is categorized. As mentioned at the beginning of this article, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has issued updated standards for maintaining, collecting, and presenting race/ethnicity data across federal agencies. The key revisions to questions used to collect information on race and ethnicity include:
Using one combined question for race and ethnicity, and encouraging respondents to select as many options as apply to how they identify.
Adding Middle Eastern or North African as a new minimum category. The new set of minimum race and/or ethnicity categories are:
- American Indian or Alaska Native
- Asian
- Black or African American
- Hispanic or Latino
- Middle Eastern or North African
- Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander
- White
Requiring the collection of additional detail beyond the minimum required race and ethnicity categories for most situations, to ensure further disaggregation in the collection, tabulation, and presentation of data when useful and appropriate.
The updated standards also include several additional updates to definitions, terminology, and guidance to agencies on the collection and presentation of data. Check out the revised definitions for minimum race/ethnicity reporting categories below for a better understanding of which people groups are included in the different racial categories.
American Indian or Alaska Native – Individuals with origins in any of the original peoples of North, Central, and South America, including, for example, Navajo Nation, Blackfeet Tribe of the Blackfeet Indian Reservation of Montana, Native Village of Barrow Inupiat Traditional Government, Nome Eskimo Community, Aztec, and Maya.
Asian – Individuals with origins in any of the original peoples of Central or East Asia, Southeast Asia, or South Asia, including, for example, Chinese, Asian Indian, Filipino, Vietnamese, Korean, and Japanese.
Black or African American – Individuals with origins in any or the Black racial groups of Africa, including, for example, African American, Jamaican, Haitian, Nigerian, Ethiopian, and Somali.
Hispanic or Latino – Included individuals of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Salvadoran, Cuban, Dominican, Guatemalan, and other Central or South American or Spanish culture or origin.
Middle Eastern or North African – Individuals with origins in any of the original peoples of the Middle East or North Africa, including, for example, Lebanese, Iranian, Egyptian, Syrian, Iraqi, and Israeli.
Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander – Individuals with origins in any of the original peoples of Hawaii, Guam, Samoa, or other Pacific Islands, including, for example, Native Hawaiian, Samoan, Chamorro, Tongan, Fijian, and Marshallese.
White – Individuals with origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, including, for example, English, German, Irish, Italian, Polish, and Scottish.
Note: The U.S. Census Bureau also uses the category “Some Other Race” in the American Community Survey and decennial census, as mandated by the U.S. Congress. Extensive research has shown that use of a combined race/ethnicity question reduces the reporting of “Some Other Race” as respondents are able to find a category or multiple categories to report their racial/ethnic identity.
The U.S. Census Bureau is confident that the updated standards will improve data on race/ethnicity across U.S. Census Bureau programs, and that these new data will better represent the U.S. population’s rich racial/ethnic diversity and detailed identities.