Whites, Hispanics Fuel Population Rise : Census: Job-seekers from Mexico and commuters living in suburban municipalities ignite the 26.4% increase in the 1980s. The area can count 669,000 residents after the 10-year period.

Whites and Hispanics--many seeking either life out of the Los Angeles basin or a steady paycheck in a new country--settled in Ventura County by the tens of thousands during the boom of the 1980s, officials said Monday after new census figures were released.

The new figures showed that the county grew by 26.4% to a population of 669,000 over the decade, due largely to an influx of Hispanics into long-established Hispanic communities in the west county and to the movement of whites into the commuter havens near the Los Angeles County line.

The number of Hispanics increased by 56% countywide, from 113,000 in 1980 to nearly 177,000 last year, the U.S. Census Bureau reported. And three cities--Oxnard, Santa Paula and Fillmore--now have Hispanic majorities.

At the same time, the county’s non-Hispanic white population increased from 383,121 to 440,5550, or 15%, in 10 years. Most of the growth was in Thousand Oaks, Simi Valley, Camarillo and Moorpark--all cities with large numbers of white-collar workers who commute each day to Los Angeles.

Non-Hispanic whites now make up 65.9% of the county’s population, down from 72.4% in 1980. Hispanics represent 26.5% of the population, up from 21.4%. The percentage of blacks remained constant at 2%, while Asians increased from 3% to 5% countywide.

“The new Hispanic immigrants who arrived during the 1980s are virtually all from Mexico,” said Karl Lawson, census director of the city of Oxnard, whose Hispanic population grew by nearly 30,000 in the decade.

“We saw two trends in that growth,” he said. First, young laborers arrived by themselves to work the fields of the Oxnard Plain, he said. Then, as the workers established themselves, they brought their wives and children, he said.

In the east county, where population surged even more, most newcomers were affluent and purchased pricey homes in new subdivisions. The number of Hispanics increased slightly in that area.

In fact, all 10 cities in Ventura County showed sharp increases in the number of Hispanics. The increases ranged from 42% in Santa Paula to 161% in Moorpark.

However, only in Moorpark did the percentage of Hispanics decrease. Hispanics comprised a third of the city’s population in 1983, when the city was formed, but only 22% in 1990 because a 227% increase in population had brought relatively few Hispanics to town.

By contrast, the white population did not grow at all in Santa Paula, Port Hueneme and Oxnard, and decreased by 3% in Fillmore.

The city of Fillmore experienced the greatest change in its ethnic makeup. Hispanics made up less than a third of the population in 1980 but comprised 59% in 1990.

Ventura County’s 56% increase in Hispanic population reflected the trend throughout California, where the ethnic group increased 69%.

The census also reported Monday that the size of the typical county household was decreasing, and that it has proportionately fewer children than a decade ago. Children under 18 decreased from 31% of the population to 27%. The average county household had three occupants in 1980 but just 2.9 last year.

The decrease in the number of children and the size of the household was most dramatic in Simi Valley, Moorpark, Thousand Oaks and Port Hueneme.

Thousand Oaks City Manager Grant Brimhall said it reflected the number of “empty-nesters” who had bought homes in the east county 10 to 20 years ago, raised their children and now live alone in their homes.

Ventura County’s population, which surged by 139,842 in 10 years, was led by booms in Thousand Oaks, Camarillo, Simi Valley, Oxnard and especially the 227% increase in Moorpark.

New housing tracts have sprung up in each local city during the last decade. Oxnard’s population also has soared because of the increasing number of poor families who live together in apartments, houses and garages, planners said.

Ojai, which imposed strict limits on building permits, and Port Hueneme, which had little vacant land left to develop, grew the least--11.7% and 14.1%, respectively.

The state as a whole grew from 23.7 million residents to 29.8 million, about 25.7%.

The information will be a basis for forming the seven new congressional districts that California gains because of its booming population.

RACIAL DISTRIBUTION FOR VENTURA COUNTY

% chg. % chg. % chg. from from from Name Total 1980 Anglo 1980 Black 1980 Camarillo 52,303 38 41,724 31 790 95 Fillmore 11,992 25 4,725 -3 7 40 Moorpark 25,494 533 17,745 877 364 104 Ojai 7,613 12 6,495 6 17 467 Oxnard 142,216 31 45,992 0 6,884 8 Port Hueneme 20,319 14 11,758 0 1,043 33 Ventura 92,575 24 71,691 15 1,439 79 Santa Paula 25,062 22 9,845 0 63 200 Simi Valley 100,217 29 80,096 20 1,473 80 Thous. Oaks 104,352 35 87,830 27 1,208 95 Countywide 669,016 26 440,555 15 14,559 34

% chg. % chg. % chg. HISPANIC- from from from All Name Asian 1980 Am. Ind. 1980 Other 1980 races Camarillo 3,169 na 231 na 63 -76 6,326 Fillmore 88 na 55 na 6 -85 7,111 Moorpark 1,644 na 100 na 28 40 5,613 Ojai 116 na 47 na 10 -71 928 Oxnard 11,166 na 620 na 234 -74 77,320 Port Hueneme 1,276 na 148 na 31 -78 6,063 Ventura 2,363 na 698 na 133 -68 16,251 Santa Paula 225 na 113 na 63 -23 14,753 Simi Valley 5,313 na 510 na 118 -75 12,707 Thous. Oaks 4,904 na 331 na 60 -89 10,019 Countywide 32,665 na 3,430 na 855 -75 176,952

% chg. from Name 1980 Camarillo 66 Fillmore 55 Moorpark 161 Ojai 70 Oxnard 61 Port Hueneme 50 Ventura 81 Santa Paula 42 Simi Valley 76 Thous. Oaks 124 Countywide 56

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