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Excerpted: Oregon's Hispanic population nearly doubled in the 1990s, an influx that has brought the community diversity, as well as political and economic clout.

Statewide, the Hispanic population grew by 89 percent to more than 200,000 between 1990 and 1999, according to new census estimates that are part of population figures released Wednesday.

"When I first moved here...the perception was if you were Hispanic, then somehow there was a relationship with being a migrant farm worker," said Victor Merced, a lawyer of Puerto Rican descent who works for meyer Memorial Traust.

"I think that's changed now," he said. "You're finding a lot more sophisticated, educated Hispanics in Oregon, and I think people are getting away from their perception that Hispanic means farm worker from mexico."

Although most of the Hispanic population remains concentrated in the Portland area and the Willamette Valley, nearly every Oregon county showed rapid gains in its Hispanic population during the decade. The Hispanic population more than doubled in Clark County, Wash.

The estimates are unrelated to last April's census count, the results of which census officials will begin releasing in December.

In the meantime, the 1999 figures show Oregon ranked 10th in the nation for overall population growth during the 1990s, while its Hispanic population growth ranked seventh.

Part of the reason perceptions have shifted, Merced said, is that he's seen more immigrants from cosmopolitan cities such as Lima, Peru, and Bogota, Colombia as well as big U.S. cities such as Los Angeles and New York arriving in Oregon.

Another reason is that Mexican farm workers who arrived in Oregon a generation ago are learning English, settling down to raise families and beginning to climb the economic ladder as nursery operators, restaurateurs and business owners, he said. And if their status is rising, their children's is, he said.

Merced said he's also seen Hispanics gain more political influence in the last 10 years. He points to the formation of Portland's Hispanic Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce in the mid-1990s as one example.

Still, Hispanics made up only about 6 percent of Oregon's population, and many Hispanics remain isolated from main-stream society, said joseph Gallegos, a Texas-born son of oregon farm workers who now heads the University of Portland's social work program.

Updated: Thursday, September 6, 2007.