The U.S. Census released its American Community Survey’s annual 5-year estimates this month, providing a wealth of statistics about the population in Boyle County.

“The ACS is the most relied-on source for up-to-date social, economic, housing and demographic information every year,” according to the Census. “… The ACS is the only source of local statistics for most of the 40 topics it covers, such as educational attainment, occupation, language spoke at home, nativity, ancestry and selected monthly homeowner costs.”

Boyle County’s estimated 2017 population is 29,773, up 123 people from the 2016 estimate of 29,650. In 2009, the county’s population was 28,914, meaning the population has grown by almost 3 percent in eight years. Here are some other highlights from the ACS:

In the area of jobs, the new ACS data says 79.7 percent of Boyle Countians work for private businesses, while 14.6 percent work for federal, state or local governments and 5.6 percent are self-employed without an incorporated business.

The industry that employs the most people in Boyle is “educational services and health care and social assistance,” which includes an estimated 28.5 percent of all Boyle jobs. Manufacturing jobs are second at 17.4 percent; then retail jobs at 11.1 percent. Jobs in arts, entertainment, recreation and food services represent 9.8 percent of all jobs.

The median wage for a full-time, year-round worker in Boyle County is $41,387 if the worker is male, but only $31,773 if the worker is female.

When it comes to household income, 69 percent of Boyle’s households include someone making money at a job. A little more than 41 percent of households have Social Security income; and 24.4 percent — nearly one in four — have retirement income.

Almost 29 percent of Boyle County households have annual incomes below $25,000, while 16.6 percent have annual incomes of $100,000 or more. A total of 15.5 percent of Boyle County residents are considered to be living in poverty; that number is worse — 18.7 percent — for children under 18.

From 2013 to 2017 — the five-year time span the ACS data is taken from — 14.2 percent of Boyle households received benefits through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

Single-family homes dominate the residential market in Boyle County, with more than three-fourths of households living in houses. About 18 percent of households live in apartments in multi-unit structures, while 6.6 percent live in mobile homes.

The ACS data shows the cost to rent burdens people more than the cost to own a home: Almost 47 percent of renters have a “housing cost burden,” while only 24.2 percent of homeowners with mortgages had the same problem. Owners without mortgages had the lowest rate of housing cost burden at 9 percent.

Of those living in Boyle County who were born in another country, 46.2 percent came from Latin America; 33.9 percent came from Asia; 9.3 percent came from Europe; and 2.7 percent came from North America.

About one-third of men in Boyle County have never been married, while the same is true for just 26.7 percent of women. Almost half (49 percent) of men are currently married and living with their spouse; the number is 46 percent for women. While 2.1 percent of men are widowed; 10.8 percent of women have lost their spouse. The divorce rate is the same for both men and women — 13.6 percent.

There are an estimated 632 grandparents living with their own grandchildren in Boyle County. An estimated 31 percent of those grandparents are caring for their grandchildren without the presence of the grandchildren’s parents. Those numbers are up from eight years earlier in 2009, when there were an estimated 418 grandparents living with their grandchildren, and 27 percent of them were caring for their grandchildren.

Of an estimated 4,002 young adults in Boyle County (ages 18-24), only 275 — 6.9 percent — did not have a high school or equivalent degree. Almost half — 49.9 percent — had attended some college or received an associate’s degree. Just 4.5 percent had obtained a bachelor’s degree or higher.

Among Boyle residents 25 or older with a bachelor’s degree, 37 percent had their degrees in science and engineering or a related field. About one in four — 25.1 percent — had their degrees in education. An estimated 22.4 percent had degrees in arts and humanities or “other” fields; 15.5 percent had business degrees.