Population:
The total population of Oakland is 373,910.

Gender:
It is 52.5% female and 47.5% male.

Age:
The median age is 35.2 years of age.

Education:
Over 78% of Oakland residents have earned their high school diploma, and 33.8% of them have gone on to earn a Bachelor’s degree or higher.

Homeownership:
More than half (53.8%) of Oakland residents are renters while 46.2% of Oaklanders own their homes. The median home value is estimated at $487,300, nearly three times the national average.

Economic Characteristics:
The per-capita income for Oakland residents is $25,739, and 16.9% of Oakland families live below the poverty level while 18.3% of individuals live below the poverty level.

Language:
The 2000 census showed that 36.8% of Oakland residents spoke a language other than English at home. The language other than English most likely to be spoken at home was Spanish, followed by Asian and Pacific languages. Of all Oakland residents aged 5 and older 21.8% reported that they spoke English “less than very well”.

Countries of Origin:
The most popular countries and regions of origin, in order, are: Germany, Ireland, England, and sub-Saharan Africa.

Naturalization:
Of 26.6% of Oaklanders who were foreign born, 9.5% were naturalized citizens, and 17.1% were not citizens.

Neighborhood by Ethnicity:
According to 2000 census tract data, Oakland is fairly segregated into ethnic enclaves. Persons who are Hispanic or Latino of any race were spread throughout the city, but densely concentrated in West Oakland, Fruitvale, and East Oakland. White people were densely concentrated in the Oakland Hills and in the Southeastern areas of the city. Black or African American people were concentrated in West Oakland and East Oakland. Asian people were concentrated in the Chinatown and Downtown neighborhoods as well as in the Southeastern areas of the city.

Average Household Size by Neighborhood:
The average overall household size in Oakland is 2.6. In the West Oakland, Fruitvale, and East Oakland neighborhoods, there were an average of 3.39 – 4.12 persons per household.

Voter Registration:
Of the 180,012 registered voters in Oakland, 117,650 are Democratic, 13,129 are Republican,2,573 are American Independent, 5,090 are Green, 668 are Libertarian, 1,276 are Peace and Freedom, 1,745 are Other, and 37,881 Declined to State.

Major demographic changes in the last decade:
According to the 1990 and 2000 censuses, Oakland’s population has increased and become more densely concentrated, with very large shifts in racial demographics. The black population decreased and the white had just a small increase, while the Hispanic and Asian populations had very large increases.

Here are the numbers: Between 1990 and 2000 Oakland’s population increased from 372,242 to 399, 484, a 7.3% increase. White residents increased by about 5,000 people (120, 849 to 125, 013), black residents decreased by almost 20,000 people (163, 335 to 142, 460). Asian numbers jumped from 27,672 to 60,851 and Hispanic went from 51,711 to 87,467.

Square mileage of Oakland
According to the US Census data, Oakland’s land area has remained at 56.1 square miles for over a decade.

The major geographic boundaries include the Bay to the west and the hills to the east. On the bay is, of course, the Port of Oakland. Beyond the hills lies the East Bay Regional Park District. As you can see in the separate post on Rockridge, the hilly section of the City of Oakland shows different demographic characteristics than the flat section, tending towards a higher income level. There is an irregular boundary with the City of Berkeley that crosses both the flatlands and the hills.

Using 2000 Census data, we find that the most common occupation was management, professional, and related occupations, at 40%. After that came sales and office work, at 23%, then service jobs at 17%. 75% of employed were working for the private sector, while 15% worked for federal, state, or local government.

Using 2002 data from the Economic Census, we find that retail was the most common type of business, with 1,086 businesses with 11,255 employees. Of manufacturing employers, the most were apparel plants and food manufacturing (that is, raw materials generally of animal or vegetable origin processed into food products as well as fabricated metal product plants.