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Monday, August 06, 2001

By Gary Rotstein, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

Dr. Norbert and Ethel Weikers and their three young children settled into their roomy Squirrel Hill home in 1968, never realizing they would someday symbolize the stability that defines residents of Pennsylvania and Pittsburgh.

	Norbert and Ethel Weikers have lived in their Squirrel Hill home since 1968, reflecting Pennsylvanians' propensity for staying put. According to census data, almost 23 percent of home owners have been in the same location since 1969 or earlier. (Joyce Mendelsohn, Post-Gazette)

In data being released by the U.S. Census Bureau today, Pennsylvania leads all states in the share of its homeowners who have lived on the same property for more than three decades.

In owner-occupied homes across the state, almost 23 percent of the heads of households have been in the same location since 1969 or earlier, according to the bureau's state-by-state estimates of lifestyle patterns. The national average is 13.5 percent. And some Sunbelt states have far fewer longtime residents.

Less than 4 percent of Nevada's 2000 population has been there for three decades or more, for instance.

By contrast, the Weikers remain on Fair Oaks Street 33 years after they moved in. They appreciate the familiarity and convenience of their neighborhood.

"We've formed good relationships with our neighbors and have known them a long time. We watch out for one another, do chores for one another, and are called upon in emergency situations sometimes to help one another," said Norbert Weikers, a retired neurologist who is reluctant to downsize to an apartment in the suburbs, even though he and his wife are considering it.

As a Pennsylvania native, Ethel Weikers also typifies the state's stability. About 78 percent of the state's residents were born in the state, the second-highest rate in the nation, just behind Louisiana.

The national average is that just under 60 percent of Americans live in the same state where they were born.

The permanence of Pennsylvania residents, also seen in previous census surveys, can be a double-edged sword, analysts note.

"The usual interpretation of this is that people love Pennsylvania and don't want to leave," said Gordon De Jong, Penn State University distinguished professor of sociology and demography. "But the key demographic explanation is that Pennsylvania receives less in-migration. ... There's relatively few of us who have moved in here."

Fewer new ideas?

Pennsylvanians and Pittsburghers are sometimes viewed as people who are loathe to change and are more eager to reminisce about what's been lost than look forward to progress that can be made. It's a theory that's hard to prove, but one that might fit with the relative lack of newcomers.

	Online Map: Highlights of Pennslyvania's population

"One of the sources of innovation is innovation of ideas from outside, and innovation from people moving into your area," which the state is getting less of than its counterparts, De Jong said.

Harold Miller, executive vice president of the Allegheny Conference on Community Development, suggested that such immobility has nonetheless helped the region and state in many ways. The relatively low crime rate of Pennsylvania cities may be related to the permanence of their populations, with people feeling protective toward their neighborhoods.

"There is a strong tradition of volunteerism and community participation, and Pittsburgh has always had one of the highest United Way giving rates of any region in the country," Miller observed. "That's the kind of thing that comes from people feeling a sense of ownership and commitment to the region, and not something that people who are new or transient are as likely to do."

The latest evidence of local stability was contained in new data called the Census 2000 Supplementary Survey, providing information about each state similar to what has been obtained on the standard census long form every 10 years. Similar survey estimates for large cities and counties are scheduled to be released next month.

Other details provided by the survey show Pennsylvania ranking near the middle of the states on many measures of income, education and other traits.

Like the rest of the nation, a higher percentage of Pennsylvanians is becoming college-educated all the time. An estimated 23 percent of the state's 25-and-older population held a bachelor's or higher-level degree in 2000, compared with 17.9 percent in 1990. The U.S. rate is 25.1 percent, up from 20.3 percent. The state ranks 31st among 50, which is better than in some comparisons of educational attainment done a decade ago.

The state's median household income of $39,562 in 2000 ranked 24th among states and a little below the U.S. median of $41,343, but its poverty rate was better than average. An estimated 10.5 percent of Pennsylvanians had household income below the poverty line, compared with 12.5 percent for the nation, making the state 20th best in that category.

Not as poverty-prone

De Jong said Pennsylvania has always had a comparatively small percentage of the kind of residents who are more likely to live in poverty, such as minorities and single-parent families. On the other hand, its high percentage of elderly residents lowers the state's median income, since their retirement earnings are lower.

At the same time, the steadiness of Social Security and pension income helps reduce the rate of poverty.

In another trend that mirrors national changes, the share of Pennsylvania's work force employed in manufacturing continues to decline.

The data shows Pennsylvania ranking 15th among the states, with 16.8 percent receiving their paychecks from manufacturing, compared with 20 percent in the 1990 census long form. The U.S. labor force share devoted to manufacturing was 14.2 percent in last year's survey, compared with 17.6 percent on the 1990 long form.

The Census 2000 Supplementary Survey covered 700,000 U.S. households last year, using different methods and a smaller audience than the full national census carried out in April 2000. The survey's primary purpose was to test a plan by the Census Bureau to replace the census long form, which was criticized last year as being too intrusive.

The bureau hopes to obtain the same socioeconomic information more quickly by questioning a smaller portion of the population each year instead of waiting for each decade's formal census.

Census officials say the Census 2000 Supplementary Survey is an alternative, less-precise version of the official long-form data for 2000. Unlike the census, the supplementary survey was not done in prisons, college dormitories or other group quarters, so it isn't directly comparable to 1990 census data in many instances.