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By Elliot Njus | The Oregonian/OregonLive

The U.S. Census paints an intricate demographic portrait of the entire country, right down to the neighborhood level, and over time shows us how those neighborhoods have changed.

Few major metro areas have changed like Portland in the past decade. It added 287,000 residents between 2006 and 2016, an increase of 13 percent, most of them new arrivals from other parts of the country.

In that time, housing prices crashed, then soared beyond their previous heights. Oregon’s economy collapsed, then grew for eight years straight years before its growth streak ended in August. (The economy remains strong by historic standards.)

Against that backdrop, some Portlanders have thrived while others have been left behind. The intervening years have likewise left some of the region’s neighborhoods unrecognizable, and it’s dramatically altered the fabric of others.

Here are stories from five neighborhoods, identified through new Census numbers released this week, that have undergone some of the most significant transformations.

Mark Friesen, David Cansler and Melissa Lewis contributed data analysis to these reports.

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(Stephanie Yao Long/Staff)

NE Portland no longer the neighborhood black and Latino residents once knew

When Joseph Johnson was growing up in Northeast Portland’s Alberta neighborhood, for every 10 black people he’d see, there would be three whites. Now, from his chair as a barber at Terrell Brandon Barber Shop, an institution of black social life, the ratio has flipped.





The exodus of black residents began more than 20 years ago, as Portland's popularity surged and wealthier residents poured in from other states. Still, as recently as 2009, more than half the people living in the heart of Alberta — from Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard to Northeast 18th Avenue, bound by Northeast Killingsworth on the north and Prescott on the south — were non-white.

As Johnson detected, his neighborhood has seen one of the most dramatic exoduses of minority families of any in Oregon during the past decade. The black population was cut in half — from about 900 in 2009 to fewer than 400 as of last year, new Census figures show.

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(Stephanie Yao Long/Staff)

Formerly majority-white Washington County neighborhood turns majority-minority

Yayun Tung reached for an errant ball during a tennis lesson at a Beaverton tennis center.

One of the other four players in the drill was from Hong Kong by way of Australia. Another player was from South Korea. Tung was born in Taiwan. The two others were born in the U.S.

A majority-minority tennis drill, in other words.

Over the past five years, a similar demographic picture has unfolded outside the walls of the Babette Horenstein Tennis Center. The center, located within a huge Tualatin Park & Recreation District complex, sits in the middle of a Census tract that has seen its racial minority population grow from about 36 percent in 2010 to nearly 52 percent of its 2016 population.

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(Fedor Zarkhin/Staff)

Pearl District incomes surge amid construction boom

This corner of the city, nestled between Northwest 11th Avenue, the Willamette River and Burnside Street, has seen one the biggest increases in average income in the metro area, reflecting the Pearl’s explosive growth and the accompanying influx of professionals.

The area, which includes both a section of the Pearl District and Old Town/Chinatown, has seen the median household income rise 65 percent, from less than $35,000 a year between 2006 and 2010 to $58,000 over the last five years.

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(Jamie Hale/Staff)

Orenco Station booms, from empty field to fast-growing suburban neighborhood

Nick Olsen knew his Hillsboro neighborhood when it was not much more than a big, empty field.

Growing up nearby, Olsen said, his mom taught at Orenco Elementary School, back when the school and a golf course were all that was there. The school is still around, but the rest of the land has dramatically changed.

Orenco Station was among the fastest-growing neighborhoods in the Portland metropolitan area, according to newly released Census data. The population grew more than 43 percent between 2010 and 2016.

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(Eder Campuzano/Staff)

In one SE Portland neighborhood, Hispanic population booms as rents rise

Héctor Castañeda, 28, has worked behind the counter at Tienda El Grande for eight years. In that time, he said, the surrounding neighborhood has changed drastically.

Many of those changes are for the better, he said. Foot traffic has ticked up and Castañeda has made friends with return customers who invite him to birthdays, baptisms and other community events. The market for such businesses has grown as the neighborhood’s Hispanic population has grown since 2010.

But customers also tell Castañeda that increasing rents have put a strain on their finances.

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Mark Friesen and David Cansler/Staff

Change in your neighborhood

See how your neighborhood has changed in recent years on our interactive map.