Featuring:
New Dimensions of Race & Ethnicity
Over the winter, much has changed in Spokane Trends. The changes are a result of a process we have followed since 2009, along with Priority Spokane, to keep the Trends as relevant as possible to our community. Votes taken by the various groups invited to participate in the process have resulted in dozens of new indicators added to or replacing those that stood in the Trends last fall.
If there is a theme to the additions, it has been the request to cover measures by race and ethnicity. At the moment, the share of the Spokane County population made up by People of Color (POC) is estimated to be 19%. The sentiment in this round of the Trends/Priority Spokane assessment was to look behind the averages or totals typically used on the Trends to examine the variation represented by POC populations.
Thankfully, data are available to do this for approximately 30 measures. Some are available on an annual basis. Others are presented in 5-year averages, due to the relatively small populations involved. We feature eight measures in this blog.
Recent Updates
In ECONOMIC VITALITY:
2.6.1 Median Household Income (MHI) by Race & Ethnicity
This is one of the most fundamental measures of economic progress. The Trends presents the past decade in two observations: 2012-2016 and 2017-2021. The first takeaway: Incomes for all six POC groups lie below the median observed for non-Hispanic Whites. The second takeaway: as with overall MHI, incomes for all Spokane POC groups lie below those of Washington State. The gaps, however, are less pronounced in the comparison to the U.S. The third: substantial progress was made for Spokane POC groups between the first and second halves of the decade.
2.6.3 Businesses Owned by People of Color
Census estimates that the number of businesses owned by People of Color has declined a bit between 2017 and 2020, the most recent year available. The rate, expressed as a share of all businesses, has remained steady, at about 7%. This POC rate of ownership here is about a third of the rate observed in Washington and the U.S. Of course, the share of POC in the overall population in both the state and the nation are higher. But the Spokane rate is still below these benchmarks, when compared by population.
In EDUCATION:
3.7.1 Share of Classroom Teachers by Race & Ethnicity
Increasingly, the classrooms of our County’s K-12 schools are filled by students of color. For most of the public districts in the county, the share of students of color is higher than 20%. The largest district, Spokane Schools, most recently reported a share of 37%. Yet, classroom teachers do not reflect these faces. The shares of teachers of color in the County’s largest districts still lie well below 10%.
3.7.2 Public High School 5 Year Graduation Rates by Students of Color
This indicator tracks the overall rate for all students of color in all public-school districts in the County. Over the decade depicted, the rate has risen dramatically – from 71% in 2011 to 84% in 2022. The current rate is about equal to the Washington average for students of color.
In ENVIRONMENT:
5.5.14 Life Expectancy by Race & Ethnicity
This measure examines how long a baby born in any of the years tracked can be expected to live, based on current mortality rates. It considered four racial and ethnic groups as well as the overall rate for Spokane County and Washington state. Two groups score consistently higher than the overall rate: Asian-Americans and Hispanics/Latino/as. This pattern mirrors the one observed for the state. Spokane lifespans recently, however, are below their counterpart groups in the state.
5.5.19 Covid-19 Deaths & Race & Ethnicity
The pandemic hit The County’s POC much harder than the population at large. Consider the 2020 death rates of 210 Native American and 102 Asian/Pacific Islander per 100,000 population vs. one of 44 for the entire County. These are much higher rates for the same groups state-wide, except for Hispanic/Latinos/as. Data for 2021 will be posted shortly.
In HOUSING:
6.1.3 Home Ownership Rates by Race & Ethnicity
Ownership rates by POC in the County lie below those of non-Hispanic Whites. This is true in the state and the U.S. as well This is no surprise, given the lower incomes reported by POC in all three geographies. The gap in the County between POC and non-Hispanic Whites is currently about 20 percentage points. A similar sized gap exists for the U.S., but a slightly smaller one for Washington holds. For all years, the ownership rate by Spokane POC populations has been less than those for the state and the U.S.
In PUBLIC SAFETY:
7.1.7 Arrests in Spokane County by Shares of the Racial Populations
Arrest data from the Washington State Association of Sheriffs & Police Chiefs points to a consistent differential experience over the past decade. This indicator tracks the rate for four racial groups, including White, as well as the overall rate. In 2021 the arrest rates for Blacks and Native Americans were approximately five and four times more frequent, respectively, than the arrest rates for the general population. This discrepancy represents a slight improvement over time.
list updated 04.26.23
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