On Nov. 15, the Portland State University Population Research Center issued its revised estimate for Oregon’s population for 2023, knocking its previous estimate down by about 50,000 residents.
That revision, part of PSU’s annual process, puts the university’s number closer to different and lower numbers issued earlier by the U.S. Census Bureau.
An October report from the think-tank Common Sense Institute Oregon highlighted the divergence:
“While the U.S. Census Bureau reports a population decrease in Oregon for the past two years, figures from Portland State University’s Population Research Center (PSU-PRC) present a different narrative,” the organization wrote in an Oct. 28 report. “Contrasting with the Census data, PSU-PRC’s estimates for the last two years indicate a population increase. For example, in 2023, PSU-PRC estimated Oregon’s population at 4,296,626, significantly higher than the Census’s reported 4,233,358.”
Yesterday, PSU dropped its estimate for 2023 to 4,246,688.
