Bethany, Oregon facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Bethany
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Aerial view of Bethany and surrounding area
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 Bethany
Location in Oregon
Bethany
Location in the United States
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| Country | United States |
| State | Oregon |
| County | Washington |
| Elevation | 266 ft (81 m) |
| Population
(2020)
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| • Total | 31,350 |
| Time zone | UTC-8 (Pacific (PST)) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC-7 (PDT) |
| ZIP codes |
97006, 97229
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| Area codes | 503, 971 |
| GNIS feature ID | 2584406 |
Bethany is a community in Washington County, Oregon, United States. It is not an official city but a "census-designated place". This means it's a special area that the government counts for population.
Bethany is located north of U.S. Route 26 and near towns like Beaverton and Cedar Mill. It is also part of the larger Portland area.
Contents
History of Bethany
The name Bethany first belonged to a small trading center. This was about two miles northeast of where Bethany is now. A Presbyterian church stands there today.
Early Settlers and the Post Office
A man named Ulrich Gerber from Switzerland was one of the first people to settle here in the 1870s. In 1878, Gerber helped start the first post office. It was near where Bethany School is now. He suggested the name Bethany.
The word 'Bethany' comes from Hebrew. It was originally the name of a place near Jerusalem in Palestine. Many places in the U.S. are named Bethany, often because of a church. The post office closed in 1904.
Bethany's Library
Bethany got its first public library in 2007. It was opened by a group called the Cedar Mill Community Library Association. This group had already been running a library in nearby Cedar Mill since 1976. The Bethany library is a branch of that older library. It is officially called the Cedar Mill Community Library @ Bethany.
People in Bethany
This section shares information about the people who live in Bethany. This data comes from a special count called a census.
2010 Census Information
In 2010, the census counted 20,646 people living in Bethany. There were 7,205 households, which are like homes or apartments. Out of these, 5,579 were families.
Most people in Bethany were White (60.4%). A large group was also Asian (31.7%). Smaller groups included Black people (1.7%) and Pacific Islanders (0.2%). About 1.5% were from other races, and 4.1% were from two or more races. People who identified as Hispanic or Latino made up 5.1% of the population.
Households and Families
Many families in Bethany had children under 18 living with them (50.6%). Most families were married couples living together (66.4%). Some households had a female head with no husband (8.4%). A smaller number had a male head with no wife (2.6%). About 22.6% of households were not families.
Almost one-fifth of all households (18.6%) were made up of single individuals. About 6.6% of households had someone living alone who was 65 years or older. On average, there were 2.86 people in each household. The average family size was 3.30 people.
The average age of people in Bethany was 35.7 years old. The population was almost evenly split between genders, with 48.5% male and 51.5% female.
