Things to Know About Napa

Napa County Demographics
The population of Napa County grew by almost six percent, or by 7,321 people, between 2000 and 2004. Of the cities in the County, Napa itself has the greatest number of residents, accounting for 58% of the total, or 75,900 people. Napa has historically been the city with the greatest concentration of people and very rapid growth, as the number of residents increased by 4.6 percent since 2000. The second most highly populated area of Napa County is the unincorporated region, which included 28,100 residents, or 21 percent of the total population, in 2004, and continues to expand by about 0.6 percent per year. American Canyon, however, has experienced the largest growth rate in the County, as its population has increased by 34.5 percent since 2000. However, American Canyon only accounts for 10 percent of the total population of Napa County, with 13,150 people living in the area in 2004. St. Helena made up five percent of the total population in 2004, with only 50 people moving into or being born in the area between 2000 and 2004. The city of Calistoga contains only four percent of the total Napa population, while Yountville accounted for two percent of the 2004 total and is the only city to experience a decrease in its population since 2000.

Population Aging
Also of note: Napa County’s population is aging, even though more families are having children than four years previous. The largest population increases for Napa were seen in the 50 to 59 and 60 to 64 age ranges, which increased by 20 and 21 percent respectively. These rates are indicative of the aging “Baby Boomer” generation, many of whom are between the ages of 50 and 59. Large population jumps were also seen in the elderly, as 75 to 79-year-olds increased by 12 percent, 80 to 84-year-olds increased by 13 percent and those over the age of 85 increased by 19 percent from 2000 to 2004. Of the younger generation, residents 20 to 24 years old increased by 18 percent and teenagers, ages 10 to 19 increased by 6 percent in the past four years. Despite these increases, the majority of residents are between ages 40 to 44 and 45 to 49, each category having approximately 10,000 cohorts and accounting for 15 percent of the total population. Lastly, as far as gender diversification in Napa County, the numbers of women and men have virtually matched each other exactly, with nearly equal amounts of men and women residing in Napa County over the past four years.

Economic Vitality
Napa County has experienced an overall decrease in the number of people employed since 2001, with a nine percent fall in employment in the agricultural industry in the last two years. Despite the recent decline, overall agricultural production has increased from $150 million in 1995 to almost $393 million in 2003. Although the number of people employed has fallen, Napa County’s labor force participation rate has reached a decade high.

This increase in the participation rate despite the decrease in total jobs may point to the growing population of retirees, which are not included in the labor force. This is further supported by the growth in the unemployment rate in Napa County over the last four years. The top three labor employment sectors in Napa County today are: Manufacturing with 10,500 employees; Trade, Transportation, and Utilities with 9,000 employees; and Leisure with 8,225 employees. Employment rates for all three sectors have been growing steadily since 1992. However, because of California’s budget crisis, both education and government experienced a decrease in employment between 2002 and 2003.

The Retail and the Service sectors each account for more than 10 percent of Napa County’s total labor market, although the service industry has experienced a substantial decrease of 20 percent of total employment since 2001. Agriculture and Construction are strong employment sectors that employ 4,791 and 4,366 Napa County residents respectively. Both markets have experienced volatility over the past decade, which is likely due to the unpredictable nature of the industries and the dependence upon unstable outside factors such as weather patterns and the economy. Wholesale trade employment increased by 13 percent between 2002 and 2003, while the financial sector lost eight percent of its jobs. This was the finance sector’s first downturn in a decade.

Labor Force Participation Rate At Decade High
Napa County’s labor force is 54.4 percent of its population, a figure that has remained fairly steady since 2002. The greatest gain was seen between 2000 and 2001 when employment rose by 2.25 percent. This is likely attributed to the end of the nationwide recession in November of 2001. Overall labor force participation rates have been trending upward since 1995, and are 4.6 percent higher than they were a decade ago.

Upward Trend in Unemployment
In 2004 Napa County had an average unemployment rate of 4.5 percent, or 3,300 people. The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for Napa County in December of 2004 was 5.1 percent, a rate unseen in Napa County since 1997.

However, employment conditions in Napa are still better than both California and the U.S., which had rates of 5.8 and 5.4 percent, respectively, in December 2004.

Vacancy Rates Stable
Both office and industrial vacancy in Napa County have trended upward over the past decade. In 2000 the office vacancy rate was approximately nine percent, while the industrial vacancy rate was only 3.8 percent. Vacancy rates for both industrial and office space then increased dramatically between 2000 and 2001, with total vacant square feet of industrial space jumping to 12.7 percent and vacant office space increasing by 12.5 percent. Vacancy rates have remained relatively stable since 2001, and are now at 19.7 percent for office space and 11.4 percent for industrial space.

Decade-long Upward Trend in Taxable Sales
Both total taxable sales and total taxable retail sales have been increasing since 1994. Indeed, Napa County’s total taxable sales improved by 56 percent in a decade, while retail sales increased by 54 percent. Both quarterly taxable sales and quarterly retail sales reached a peak in the third quarter 2003, with $517,816,000 in taxable sales and $318,141,000 in retail sales. Total sales dropped a bit in 2003’s final quarter to $506,801,000, of which $304,412,000 were retail sales.

Highest Income Ranges Expanding
Napa County has seen the median annual household income rise from $36,773 in 1990 to $51,738 in 2000. This represents a 29 percent increase. Consequently, current economic conditions have improved markedly. In particular, the County has seen large increases in the percentage of households in the relatively high-income ranges and a corresponding drop in the percentage of households in the low-income ranges. For example, income ranges of $49,999 and below accounted for only 48.02 percent of households in 2000 versus 66.93 percent of households in 1990. Households in the higher wage categories of $50,000 to $150,000 or more grew by 18.91 percent over the same decade. In the year 2000, 20 percent of households were earning between $50,000 and $74,999 per annum, while 16.15 percent of households earned between $35,000 and $49,000, a four percent decrease from 1990. The greatest increases were seen in the higher income ranges, with over 18 percent of households in Napa County earning over $100,000.

Monthly Owner Costs Consume Increasing Portion of Income
The percentage of Napa County households who spent less than 20 percent of their disposable income on selected monthly owner costs decreased between the years 1990 and 2000, as have those in four of the other six Bay Area counties surveyed.

The percentage of Napa County households that spent in excess of 25 percent total household income on housing grew by four percent. This represents the second largest increase in the Bay Area. In the year 2000, 20.4 percent of households in Napa County spent 35 percent or more of their monthly income on housing. While this number may seem high, Napa County had the lowest percentage of households in this category of any Bay Area county.

Each of the Bay Area counties other than Napa experienced a decrease between 1990 and 2000 in the number of households who have housing costs consuming 30 to 34 percent of total household income. However, Napa experienced an increase of 0.5 percent. Both Napa County and San Francisco County had increases of almost two percent in households spending 25 to 29 percent of total income on household owner costs. Subsequently, in the last 10 years, owner costs for housing are accounting for a greater portion of total household expenditures in the Bay Area counties.

Growth in Farmland Acres Since 1992
In 2002 there were 79,288 acres of land used for farming, or 15.7 percent of total land, and 180,109 acres being used for grazing, or 35.6 percent of total land. Since 1992, farmland has increased by 1.12 percent of the total land use for Napa County while 1.37 percent fewer acres of total land are being allocated for grazing. Comparatively, urban land has grown by only 0.32 percent, to 4.23 percent of total land. The limited use of land for urban and built-up development is indicative of the reliance upon agricultural production and preservation of a robust agricultural based economy and rural lifestyle. The county’s development pattern stems from a countywide commitment to city-centered growth policies and protection of open space and natural resources.

For complete information visit www.co.napa.ca.us and download the free Napa County Community Indicators Report.