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Chapter 2 Sector Two Today The People The People SWT has a major influence on San Marcos. It is the city's largest employer, with about 2,500 employees, and its students, both on and off campus, make up a quarter of San Marcos' residents in 1996. Surprisingly, Sector Two's demographic profile is less dominated by the university's presence than is the city as a whole, although it is situated fairly close to SWT. That is not to say that Sector Two is not impacted by being p~ of a I1college townl1, where the majority of adults are young, single renters. However, according to the 1990 Census, of the adults in this sector, 54% are married, 75% are over the age of24, 52% own their homes, and 52% of those married have children. These figures are higher than for the city as a whole and shows that Sector Two is generally a stable family-oriented area. The sector is almost evenly divided between home owners and renters, with renter tending to be somewhat younger. Home owners are concentrated in the Greater Castle Forest, Oak Heights and Park Place neighborhoods while renters are more prevalent in the Westover and Southwest Hills neighborhoods. There are a higher percentage of married people in Sector Two than in the city as a whole (54% vs. 31 %), a higher percentage of family households (65% vs. 46%), more owner occupied units (52% vs. 32%), and a more even distribution of population across age ranges. Over forty-two percent ofthe City's population is between ages 18 - 24 , while only 17% of Sector Two's residents fall in that age range. Sector Two has a larger percentage of residents age 65 and over (9%) than does the city (7%). Overall household size (HHS) in Sector Two (2.60 persons) is lower than that for the city as a whole (2.92). Family HHS in the sector is 3.13, while non-family HHS is 1.62. Ethnically, according to the 1990 Census, there is a larger percentage of White non- Hispanics in Sector Two than the city as a whole (71 % vs. 57%), a lower percentage of Hispanics (26% vs. 37%) and Blacks (2% vs. 5%), and a equal percentage of American Indians, Asians, and Others (1 %). Demographic tables for Sector Two are presented on the following page. Current Population Estimating current population requires an accurate knowledge ofthe existing housing stock, and reliable estimates of household size and housing occupancy rate. It also assumes there is an accurate base population count. The base count for Sector Two is the block-level 1990 Census Bureau count for the City of San Marcos. Household size was also derived from these block level figures. The December 1996 housing survey of Sector Two by the City of San Marcos Planning and 2-12