Riverbank, Oakdale like night and day

New data show contrast between neighbor towns

By J.N. Sbranti
jnsbranti@modbee.com

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Their borders may be just a couple of miles apart, but Oakdale and Riverbank have very different demographics.

Population characteristics, revealed this week by the U.S. Census Bureau, show the two towns don't have much in common.

Riverbank residents are far younger and more likely to be living in large traditional families in homes they own.

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Oakdale residents are better educated, less likely to be in poverty and overwhelmingly U.S.-born.

If you want to meet senior citizens, go to Oakdale. Head to Riverbank to find preschoolers.

Riverbank has nearly four times more noncitizens than Oakdale.

Nearly three out of four Oakdale residents are white non-Hispanics, and more people in that town told census takers they were "Alaska natives" than said they were black.

More than half of those living in Riverbank are Hispanic, and one out of five residents there does not speak English very well.

There are more military veterans in Oakdale. Folks in Riverbank spend more time commuting to work.

Oakdale men who work full time year-round earn more than those from Riverbank. But Riverbank women earn more than those from Oakdale.

This is the first time the Census Bureau has released such statistics about Oakdale; that's because the town recently hit 20,000 residents. This is the second year these statistics were made public for Riverbank.

The new demographic portraits come from data gathered by the American Community Survey during 2006, 2007 and 2008.

Similar statistics also were released this week for Modesto, Turlock, Ceres, Atwater, Los Banos, Merced and Manteca. Population data for those living in the Patterson Joint Unified School District also was released.

Literally thousands of population characteristics, socioeconomic statistics and housing facts are included in the data.

A broad sampling of that information for Northern San Joaquin Valley cities is posted with this story at www.modbee.com.

Bee staff writer J.N. Sbranti can be reached at jnsbranti@modbee.com or 578-2196.