Umatilla County () is one of the 36 counties in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

. The population of 81,826 ranks it as the 14th largest in Oregon, and largest in Eastern Oregon. Hermiston is the largest city in Umatilla County, but Pendleton remains the county seat. Umatilla County is part of the Hermiston-Pendleton, OR Micropolitan Statistical Area, which has a combined population of 94,833. It is included in the eight-county definition of Eastern Oregon. The county is named for the

Umatilla River The Umatilla River is an tributary of the Columbia River in northern Umatilla County, Oregon, Umatilla County, Oregon, United States. drainage basin, Draining a basin of , it enters the Columbia near the city of Umatilla, Oregon, Umatilla in the ...

History

Umatilla County was created on September 27, 1862, out of a portion of Wasco County. Adjustments were made to the county's boundaries following the creation of Grant, Morrow, Union, and Wallowa Counties. This legislative act also designated Marshall Station as the temporary county seat. An 1865 election selected Umatilla City, now known as Umatilla, as the county seat. With the development of wheat farming, population shifted to the north and east parts of the county, and a subsequent election in 1868 moved the county seat again to Pendleton. The Umatilla Indian Reservation was established by the Treaty of Walla Walla in 1855. The Umatillas, Walla Wallas, and Cayuse tribes were resettled there, and is located immediately southeast of Pendleton. EZ Wireless of Hermiston officially opened on February 4, 2004, one of the largest known

Wi-Fi Wi-Fi () is a family of wireless network protocols based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for Wireless LAN, local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by ...

wide area network A wide area network (WAN) is a telecommunications network that extends over a large geographic area. Wide area networks are often established with leased telecommunication circuits. Businesses, as well as schools and government entities, use ...

s in the United States, covering parts of Umatilla County, Morrow County and

Benton County, Washington Benton County is a County (United States), county in the south-central portion of the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, its population was 206,873. The county seat is Prosser, Wash ...

. Although created to facilitate communications among local police, firemen and EMT workers who immediately respond to possible accidents or terrorist attacks on the Umatilla Chemical Depot, where the

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of the United Stat ...

maintained a national arsenal of

nerve gas Nerve agents, sometimes also called nerve gases, are a class of organic chemicals that disrupt the mechanisms by which nerves transfer messages to organs. The disruption is caused by the blocking of acetylcholinesterase (AChE), an enzyme that ...

, the network can be accessed in some places by the public for free.

Geography

According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, the county has a total area of , of which are land and (0.5%) are covered by water. It borders the

Columbia River The Columbia River (Upper Chinook language, Upper Chinook: ' or '; Sahaptin language, Sahaptin: ''Nch’i-Wàna'' or ''Nchi wana''; Sinixt dialect'' '') is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river headwater ...

across from

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

Adjacent counties

(north) *

Walla Walla County, Washington Walla Walla County ( ) is a county located in the southeast of the U.S. state of Washington. As of the 2020 census, its population was 62,584. The county seat and most populous city is Walla Walla. The county was formed on April 25, 1854 and ...

(north) * Columbia County, Washington (northeast) *

Wallowa County Wallowa County () is the northeasternmost county in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2020 census, the population was 7,391, making it Oregon's fifth-least populous county. Its county seat is Enterprise. According to ''Oregon Geographic Name ...

(east) * Union County (east) *

Grant County Grant County may refer to: Places ;Australia * County of Grant, Victoria ;United States * Grant County, Arkansas * Grant County, Indiana * Grant County, Kansas *Grant County, Kentucky Grant County is a county located in the northern pa ...

(south) * Morrow County (west)

National protected areas

* Cold Springs National Wildlife Refuge * McKay Creek National Wildlife Refuge *

Umatilla National Forest The Umatilla National Forest, in the Blue Mountains (Oregon), Blue Mountains of northeast Oregon and southeast Washington (U.S. state), Washington, covers an area of 1.4 million acres (5,700 km2). In descending order of land area the forest ...

(part) * Whitman National Forest (part)

Demographics

2010 census

As of the 2010 census, 75,889 people, 26,904 households, and 18,647 families resided in the county. The population density was . The 29,693 housing units had an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 79.1% White, 3.5% American Indian, 0.9% Asian, 0.8% Black or African American, 0.1% Pacific islander, 12.5% from other races, and 3.1% from two or more races. Those of Hispanic or Latino origin made up 23.9% of the population. In terms of ancestry, 21.4% were

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

, 12.8% were Irish, 11.6% were English, and 5.6% were American. Of the 26,904 households, 36.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 50.9% were married couples living together, 12.0% had a female householder with no husband present, 30.7% were non-families, and 24.7% of all households were made up of individuals. The average household size was 2.67 and the average family size was 3.17. The median age was 35.7 years. The median income for a household in the county was $45,861 and for a family was $53,585. Males had a median income of $39,288 versus $30,489 for females. The per capita income for the county was $20,035. About 11.0% of families and 15.8% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 21.4% of those under age 18 and 9.5% of those age 65 or over.

2021 US Census American Community Survey- Household Incomes

Strong economic growth in the west end of the county has propelled Hermiston well past Pendleton with the highest median household incomes in Umatilla County.

Government and politics

State legislature

Umatilla County contains two Oregon State House Districts: State House District 57, which is currently represented by Greg Smith, and State House District 58, which is currently represented by Bobby Levy. Umatilla County is also located in the 29th District of the

Oregon State Senate The Oregon State Senate is the upper house of the State legislature (United States), statewide legislature for the US state of Oregon. Along with the lower chamber Oregon House of Representatives it makes up the Oregon Legislative Assembly. Ther ...

, represented by Todd Nash. Smith, Levy, and Nash are registered Republicans.

Board of commissioners

Umatilla County is represented and governed by three

county commissioner A county commission (or a board of county commissioners) is a group of elected officials (county commissioners) collectively charged with administering the County (United States)#County government, county government in some U.S. state, states of ...

s. The Umatilla County Board of Commissioners is currently made up of Dan Dorran, John Shafer, and Cindy Timmons.

Make-up of Umatilla County voters

Like all counties in eastern Oregon, the majority of registered voters who are part of a

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...

in Umatilla County are members of the Republican Party. Registrations of Non-affiliated voters have increased significantly since Oregon began Automatic Voter Registration through the DMV in 2016. Despite the increase in Non-affiliated voters, the Republican Party in Umatilla County has continued to see a 2:1 vote margin in Presidential elections between the years 2000 and 2024.

Economy

The gold rush of 1862 brought miners and stock raisers to the mountains and grasslands of Umatilla County. Another stimulus was the arrival of the railroad in 1881, opening the region to the development of dry-land wheat farming. Water for

irrigation Irrigation (also referred to as watering of plants) is the practice of applying controlled amounts of water to land to help grow crops, landscape plants, and lawns. Irrigation has been a key aspect of agriculture for over 5,000 years and has bee ...

has been key to economic diversification and growth, most recently in the Hermiston area, where potatoes, onions, corn, and more than 200 other crops are grown commercially. Low-cost power through Umatilla Electric Cooperative and good freeway access are also driving growth in the Hermiston area, with

amazon.com Amazon.com, Inc., doing business as Amazon, is an American multinational technology company engaged in e-commerce, cloud computing, online advertising, digital streaming, and artificial intelligence. Founded in 1994 by Jeff Bezos in Bellevu ...

developing large data-center operations there, and major distribution facilities for

Walmart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores in the United States and 23 other ...

FedEx FedEx Corporation, originally known as Federal Express Corporation, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate holding company specializing in Package delivery, transportation, e-commerce, and ...

, and UPS are all located in Hermiston.

Communities

Umatilla County is generally divided into three distinct economic and cultural areas, which are the West End, the Pendleton area, and the Milton-Freewater area. Although each of these communities shares some economic ties, the distance between each creates three very distinct communities. The West End includes the communities of Hermiston, Umatilla, Stanfield, and Echo. The Pendleton area includes Pendleton, Pilot Rock, Adams, and Athena. The Milton-Freewater area is largely tied to the Walla Walla, Washington area, and is considered a part of the Walla Walla Metropolitan Planning Organization. The similarities between the areas has created a long-standing rivalry, particularly between the West-End and the Pendleton-area, with regard to economic opportunity and public resources. The West End, led by Hermiston as its largest city, is now nearly twice the size of the Pendleton area, and is projected to be nearly three times the size of the Pendleton area by 2035.

Cities

* Adams *

Athena Athena or Athene, often given the epithet Pallas, is an ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek goddess associated with wisdom, warfare, and handicraft who was later syncretism, syncretized with the Roman goddess Minerva. Athena was regarde ...

Echo In audio signal processing and acoustics, an echo is a reflection of sound that arrives at the listener with a delay after the direct sound. The delay is directly proportional to the distance of the reflecting surface from the source and the lis ...

Helix A helix (; ) is a shape like a cylindrical coil spring or the thread of a machine screw. It is a type of smooth space curve with tangent lines at a constant angle to a fixed axis. Helices are important in biology, as the DNA molecule is for ...

* Hermiston * Milton-Freewater * Pendleton (county seat) * Pilot Rock * Stanfield * Ukiah * Umatilla *

Weston Weston may refer to: Places Australia * Weston, Australian Capital Territory, a suburb of Canberra * Weston, New South Wales * Weston Creek, a residential district of Canberra * Weston Park, Canberra, a park Canada * Weston, Nova Scotia * W ...

Census-designated places

* Cayuse * Gopher Flats * Green Meadows * Kirkpatrick *

McKay McKay, MacKay or Mackay is a Scottish and Irish surname. The last phoneme in the name is traditionally pronounced to rhyme with 'eye', but in some parts of the world this has come to rhyme with 'hey'. In Scotland, it corresponds to Clan Mackay. ...

* Meacham * Mission * Riverside * Tutuilla * Umapine

Unincorporated communities

* Bingham Springs * Blakeley * Bucks Corners * Cobb * Cold Springs * Cold Springs Junction * Crockett * Ferndale *

Gibbon Gibbons () are apes in the family Hylobatidae (). The family historically contained one genus, but now is split into four extant genera and 20 species. Gibbons live in subtropical and tropical forests from eastern Bangladesh and Northeast Indi ...

* Hidaway Springs * Hinkle * Holdman * Lehman Springs * McNary * Myrick * Nolin * Nye * Power City * Rieth * Sunnyside * Tollgate * Westland

Former communities

* Fulton * Ordnance * Pine Grove * Riverview

Education

School districts include:
Text list
/ref> * Athena-Weston School District 29J * Echo School District 5 * Helix School District 1 * Hermiston School District 8 * Milton-Freewater School District 7 * Pendleton School District 16 * Pilot Rock School District 2 * Stanfield School District 61 * Ukiah School District 80 * Umatilla School District 6

References

External links

Umatilla County
(official website) {{authority control 1862 establishments in Oregon Populated places established in 1862 Oregon placenames of Native American origin Pendleton–Hermiston Micropolitan Statistical Area