Census snapshot: Gold Bar

This is one of a series of looks at Snohomish and Island county communities based on data from the U.S. Census of 2010.

Gold Bar started as a prospecting camp around 1889, named by a miner who found traces of gold on a Skykomish River gravel bar. It was a construction camp for the Great Northern Railway, then a timber-mill and railroad town, officially incorporating in 1910. But until the late 20th century, the population was in the mere hundreds.

Today it's a recreational destination and bedroom community of 2,075. This year Gold Bar officials considered asking voters to disincorporate because, they said, the cost of defending against lawsuits related to serial public records requests was draining the small city's treasury. Instead, voters in November will consider taxing themselves to cover those costs.

Gold Bar population vs. Snohomish County and Washington

	Gold Bar	County	Washington
Population, 2010	2,075	713,335	6,724,540
Population change, 2000 to 2010	3.0%	17.7%	14.1%
Population, 2000	2,014	606,024	5,894,121
Persons under 5 years	6.2%	6.6%	6.5%
Persons under 18 years	26.4%	24.4%	23.5%
Persons 65 years and over	7.0%	10.3%	12.3%
Female persons	47.2%	50.0%	50.2%
White persons	85.1%	78.4%	77.3%
Black persons	0.6%	2.5%	3.6%
American Indian and Alaska Native persons	0.7%	1.4%	1.5%
Asian persons	1.0%	8.9%	7.2%
Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islanders	0.7%	0.4%	0.6%
Persons reporting two or more races	4.9%	4.6%	4.7%
Persons of Hispanic or Latino origin	10.1%	9.0%	11.2%
White persons not Hispanic	83.2%	74.3%	72.5%

More about the city of Gold Bar

At Wikipedia.org: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold_Bar,_Washington

City of Gold Bar official website: www.cityofgoldbar.us