Gold Beach is one of about a dozen small communities in Oregon that recently had its U.S. Census Bureau status changed from Urban to Rural. It’s the result of a new definition for the 2020 Census, which had defined since 1910 an Urban Cluster as having at least 2,500 people. The revision in 2020 doubled that level to 5,000 people. Also along the Oregon Coast, the mill town of Toledo, six-miles east of Newport had its status changed from Urban to Rural. The Census Bureau’s new threshold reportedly could impact an area’s ability to qualify for different types of federal funding. The 2020 Census listed Gold Beach’s population at 2,241.
