Apple Valley's population has grown the past several years in total number, age and racial diversity, according to  American Community Survey data released last week by the U.S. Census Bureau.

The American Community Survey collects information from 3 million households each year and shows characteristics of smaller communities from the years in between the actual census collection. The most recent American Community Survey information for Apple Valley shows estimates of population demographics and social, economic and housing characteristics from 2005 to 2009.

A comparison to census data from 2000 shows how Apple Valley has changed. Apple Valley Patch will use the survey data to bring you more specific and in-depth stories about the community.

Total population: Apple Valley's population has grown 9.3 percent, the survey shows, from 45,527 to 49,776 people. Women are 52 percent of the city's population, a 1 percent gain from 2000.

Age: Assistant City Planner Maggie Dykes said there's a market for more senior housing in the city, Apple Valley Patch reported last week.

The survey results show cause for that. Apple Valley's seniors were 5.5 percent of the population in 2000, while they now represent 8.3 percent. About 1,600 more people age 65 or older live in the city.

A Dakota County housing needs study conducted in 2005 showed Apple Valley's senior population was expected to more than triple between 2000 and 2030. The study recommended 415 to 540 units be available for Apple Valley seniors by 2010; the city has 768 units open or on the way.

Racial make-up: About 86 percent of Apple Valley residents are white, the survey shows, but in 2000 that number was nearly 92 percent.

The number of black people in the city increased nearly 2.5 times since 2000, from 870 to 2,132. They represent 4.3 percent of the population, compared to 1.9 percent in 2000. People of Asian decent represented 3.4 percent of Apple Valley's population in 2000. The percentage has climbed to 6.3 percent, and the number of people more than doubled, from 1,542 to 3,114.

At Southview Elementary School, there's been "a pretty dramatic increase" in the number of students of color attending from when Principal Rhonda Smith came to the school, she said. Eighteen years ago, she said, it was rare to see even one or two students of color in a classroom.

"Now we have diversity in every classroom we have," Smith said."It's certainly much more reflective of what society is in general."

More students of color also are English-language learners, Smith said, so there are more staff in that area.

Home values: In 2000, there were nearly 13,000 single-family homes in Apple Valley and the median home value was $154,300. The survey data show just more than 16,037 homes between 2005-09, with a median value of $242,300.

Because the survey data shows figures from 2005-09, the median home price from ACS doesn't seem to reflect the current median home price in the area, said Samone Ekholm, manager at Keller Williams Realty, which serves Apple Valley.

In 2005, when the housing market was hot and home values were higher, even a few homes at a high price could have skewed the median home value, she said. More recently, prices have come down and are still stabilizing, she said.

"Obviously we're still in that depreciation," she said.

According to data from the St. Paul Area Association of Realtors, the median sale price this year through November for Apple Valley homes is $179,000. According to the City of Apple Valley, the median home value for Apple Valley for 2011 tax purposes is $203,200.

Income: In 1999, the median income in Apple Valley's households—people who live in the same house but are not necessarily related—was just under $70,000. In 2009, adjusted for inflation, median household income was $78,470. Median income for families—two or more people who live together and are related by birth, marriage or adoption—in 1999 was $79,335, while in 2009 it sat at nearly $90,000, the survey shows.

Poverty: Despite the growth in median income, growth also occurred in the level of poverty in Apple Valley. One percent of families lived below the poverty level in 2000; the survey shows it's about 3.6 percent. Those numbers for individual residents were about 2 percent in 2000, and 5 percent now.