In a late night daze, my friend and I hopped over to Hibbing for the Jubilee street dance to wander around. Since he is from here, and I am not, I always end up being an observer. I am always stunned by one thing on the range; almost entire missing age groups. Now at my age, I do not expect thousands of raving near middle age people roaming around as we usually have children, jobs that actually require us to show up and perform and other categories under that evil responsibility word. But one thing is always a shock...the age group between 25 and 45 seems to almost not exist. It seems that beyond 22 or so and after mid baby-boomers, the lack of compatriots is obvious; you feel as if an alien. So, is my perception correct? The best data we have is now 9 years old, but it can tell us something:

From Hibbing, the first is the table;

22 to 24 years	254	2.9	285	3.1	539	2.97
25 to 29 years	438	5.0	426	4.6	864	4.77
30 to 34 years	461	5.2	498	5.3	959	5.29
35 to 39 years	570	6.5	629	6.7	1,199	6.61
40 to 44 years	708	8.1	722	7.7	1,430	7.89
45 to 49 years	823	9.4	750	8.0	1,573	8.68
50 to 54 years	634	7.2	594	6.4	1,228	6.77
55 to 59 years	436	5.0	476	5.1	912	5.03
60 and 61 years	140	1.6	152	1.6	292	1.61
62 to 64 years	192	2.2	237	2.5	429	2.37
65 and 66 years	115	1.3	168	1.8	283	1.56
67 to 69 years	199	2.3	275	2.9	474	2.61
70 to 74 years	368	4.2	484	5.2	852	4.70

And this table includes projections:

2000 Population*	17,071
1990 Population*	18,046
Percent change from 1990 population*	-5.4
2007 population estimate***	16,170
2010 population projection***	--
2000 Total minority population*	530
Urban population**	12,603
Rural population**	4,467
Median age*	41
Population by Age
Population under 18 years*	3,891
Population 18 years and over*	13,180
Population 65 years and over*	3,372

Now for my old district on the west side of St. Paul:

22 to 24 years	580	5.2	524	4.8	1,104	5.03
25 to 29 years	1,042	9.4	1,006	9.2	2,048	9.32
30 to 34 years	946	8.5	853	7.8	1,799	8.19
35 to 39 years	869	7.9	755	6.9	1,624	7.39
40 to 44 years	833	7.5	645	5.9	1,478	6.73
45 to 49 years	638	5.8	569	5.2	1,207	5.49
50 to 54 years	481	4.3	496	4.5	977	4.45
55 to 59 years	354	3.2	385	3.5	739	3.36
60 and 61 years	116	1.0	156	1.4	272	1.24
62 to 64 years	156	1.4	181	1.7	337	1.53
65 and 66 years	96	0.9	107	1.0	203	0.92
67 to 69 years	132	1.2	146	1.3	278	1.27
70 to 74 years	180	1.6	284	2.6	464	2.11

and the projected numbers, which are unfair due to size:

2000 Population*	287,151
1990 Population*	272,235
Percent change from 1990 population*	5.5
2007 population estimate***	287,669
2010 population projection***	--
2000 Total minority population*	103,253
Urban population**	287,151
Rural population**	0
Median age*	31
Population by Age
Population under 18 years*	77,827
Population 18 years and over*	209,324
Population 65 years and over*	29,647

Remember, most of the numbers are now 9 years old, and simply moving forward the clock you can get new age cohorts; reality is more complex, however, as the economy and movement will alter things quite a bit. The stunning difference is in the old 25 to 44 Year old age classes. which in the simple sense are the new 35 to 54 year olds. Especially in the thirties, the difference is quite striking. The median age is ten years difference, which tells you the weight of the pyramid. Hibbing, and probably most range cities, is skewed much much older. The projections are also different; almost 30% of Ramsey county in 2000 was under 18. Hibbing's was slightly less, but the important thing was how many were already in child bearing years. Alot of Hibbing has since passed beyond true child bearing age. It will be interesting to see what the changes are in next years census.

I guess my perceptions are true...but darnit the pics I grabbed of the dance itself didn't turn out. Alot young people drinking like fish and standing around ...and far less people wanting hair band music, thank goodness.