Dorchester: Where We Stand Today

In our story below, about the Dorchester t-shirts, it seems many readers are a little confused about Dorchester's population.  After all, the population signs along Highway 33 and the Highway 6 spur still say 615.  Just before the 2010 Census was conducted, many had assumed Dorchester had grown in population.

But the U.S. Census of 2010 reported that there were 586 people, 233 households, and 166 families residing in our village. At this time two years ago, there were 253 housing units in Dorchester.

Other findings from the 2010 Census include:

• The racial makeup of the village was 90.8% White, 1.0% African American, 0.2% Native American, 0.2% Asian, 6.8% from other races, and 1.0% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 9.7% of the population.
• The median age in our village was 37.5 years. 26.1% of residents were under the age of 18; 7.1% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 26.4% were from 25 to 44; 26.8% were from 45 to 64; and 13.3% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the village was 48.5% male and 51.5% female. For every man over 35 there were 30 kids under 10.
• Of our 233 households, 31.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 55.8% were married couples living together, 11.6% had a female householder with no husband present, 3.9% had a male householder with no wife present, and 28.8% were non-families. 24.0% of all households were made up of individuals and 7.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.52 and the average family size was 2.98.
• As of 2000 the median income for a household in the village was $34,000, and the median income for a family was $40,982. Males had a median income of $29,803 versus $23,750 for females. The per capita income for the village was $16,389. About 4.1% of families and 6.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 2.8% of those under age 18 and 8.8% of those age 65 or over.