Guam had 153,836 residents in the 2020 Census, down from 159,358 in 2010. At the same time, the island counted 51,555 housing units in 2020, giving a demographic picture shaped by population decline, household diversity, and substantial variation among municipalities and census-designated places.
Contents
- Population and housing change
- Age and sex profile
- Households and family living
- Income, poverty, and housing costs
- Race and ethnicity
- Technology access
- Municipal and community populations
Population and housing change
The 2020 Census population and housing unit counts for Guam recorded 153,836 people in 2020. The comparable 2010 population was 159,358. Guam therefore had 5,522 fewer residents in 2020, a population decline of 3.5% over the decade. These are decennial Census counts, so they describe the population at the relevant Census dates rather than a current-year estimate or forecast.
Housing moved in the opposite direction. Guam had 51,555 housing units in 2020, compared with 50,567 in 2010. The increase was 988 housing units, or 2.0%, during the same period. Read together, the population and housing figures show that the island added housing units while recording fewer residents.
| Measure | 2010 | 2020 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Population | 159,358 | 153,836 | -5,522 (-3.5%) |
| Housing units | 50,567 | 51,555 | +988 (+2.0%) |
The housing-unit total includes the island as a whole. Local totals vary considerably, with Dededo, Yigo, Tamuning, and Mangilao among the municipalities represented in the 2020 counts below.
Age and sex profile
The 2020 Census DHC Summary File for Guam counted 78,271 males and 75,565 females in 2020. Males represented 50.9% of the population and females represented 49.1%.
Guam’s median age was 33.7 years in 2020. Children ages 0 to 17 accounted for 27.0% of the population. At the older end of the age distribution, 11.2% of residents were age 65 or older, while 0.8% were age 85 or older.
These measures describe different parts of the age profile: the median divides the population into two equal-sized age groups, the child share covers residents from birth through age 17, and the older-age measures identify residents at least 65 or at least 85. The percentages should therefore be read as separate Census age indicators rather than added into a single total.
Households and family living
The 2020 DHC Summary File counted 34,804 family households in Guam. Among family households, 67.2% were married-couple families. The same source reported 3,709 cohabiting couple households, equal to 8.5% of all Guam households.
Living arrangements also included households headed by a woman without a spouse or partner present and with children under 18. There were 2,343 such Guam households in 2020, representing 5.4% of all households. In addition, 15.8% of households consisted of one person living alone.
Multigenerational living was another notable household characteristic. In 2020, 15.3% of Guam family households were multigenerational. This measure concerns family households, while the one-person figure concerns all households, so the two statistics use different denominators.
Together, these figures show several distinct household patterns: married-couple families, cohabiting couples, single-person households, female-householder households with children, and multigenerational families. They are not mutually exclusive categories for a single calculation, and no additional household total is inferred here.
Income, poverty, and housing costs
The income and poverty figures in the 2020 Census DHC Summary File for Guam use 2019 measurement periods. In 2019, 145,543 people in Guam households had poverty status determined. Of those people, 29,408 were below the poverty level, equal to 20.2% of the population with poverty status determined.
Guam’s median household income was $58,289 in 2019. The median monthly rent was $1,057. These figures describe the middle household income and middle monthly rent reported for the specified period; they are not current-price updates.
Housing costs affected owners and renters differently. In 2019, 16.1% of Guam homeowners spent 35.0% or more of household income on housing costs. The corresponding share for renters was 34.0%. Because the source reports these as separate tenure groups, the homeowner and renter percentages should not be combined into one island-wide housing-burden rate.
The same DHC source reported that 21.8% of Guam households received SNAP benefits in 2019. SNAP participation, poverty status, median income, rent, and housing-cost shares measure related but different aspects of household economic conditions. The Census figures do not establish a causal relationship among them.
Race and ethnicity
The 2020 Island Areas Censuses Data Now Available for Guam reported several race and ethnicity counts for 2020. Race responses are shown both as “alone” and as “alone or in combination,” which are different reporting concepts. A person counted in an alone-or-in-combination total may have identified with that group alongside another race.
| Population category | Alone | Alone or in combination |
|---|---|---|
| Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander | 70,809 | 83,368 |
| Chamorro | 50,420 | 63,035 |
| Asian | 54,586 | 66,194 |
| Filipino | 44,793 | 54,242 |
The same 2020 Guam data reported a multiracial population of 15,441. The Hispanic or Latino population was 4,522, including 1,740 people identified as Mexican.
The Chamorro, Filipino, Asian, and Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander counts are not additive population partitions because the source supplies overlapping “alone or in combination” measures and because race and Hispanic-or-Latino reporting can be considered separately. The figures are best used to understand the scale of the groups as defined by the Census categories.
Technology access
Household technology and internet measures in the 2020 Census DHC Summary File for Guam provide a snapshot of access in 2020. A desktop or laptop computer was present in 72.4% of Guam households. Smartphones were present in 92.3% of households, and 60.6% had a tablet or other portable wireless device.
Broadband internet subscriptions were reported for 85.9% of Guam households. These four indicators measure household access to devices and broadband rather than individual usage, connection quality, or the number of devices per household.
The smartphone figure was higher than the desktop-or-laptop figure, while broadband access was below smartphone access and above tablet access. That comparison describes the reported household percentages only; it does not identify why households had one type of access and not another.
Municipal and community populations
The 2020 Census population and housing unit counts for Guam reported the following municipality populations and housing-unit totals:
| Municipality | Population | Housing units |
|---|---|---|
| Dededo | 44,908 | 13,651 |
| Yigo | 19,339 | 6,360 |
| Tamuning | 18,489 | 8,692 |
| Mangilao | 13,476 | 4,656 |
| Barrigada | 7,956 | 2,533 |
| Chalan Pago-Ordot | 7,064 | 2,129 |
| Santa Rita | 6,470 | 1,956 |
| Yona | 6,298 | 1,843 |
| Talofofo | 3,550 | 988 |
| Umatac | 647 | 177 |
Dededo had the largest population among these municipalities, with 44,908 residents and 13,651 housing units. Umatac had 647 residents and 177 housing units in the same 2020 Census. The table preserves the source’s municipality-level counts and does not calculate occupancy, density, or average household size.
The 2020 Census Population of Guam: Census Designated Place source also reported these 2020 CDP populations:
| Census-designated place | Population |
|---|---|
| Adacao | 3,638 |
| Afame | 771 |
| Agana Heights | 3,616 |
| Agat | 3,292 |
| Anao | 2,385 |
| Andersen Air Force Base | 1,973 |
| Apotgan | 5,224 |
| Apra Harbor | 2,930 |
| Asan | 860 |
| Astumbo | 3,921 |
| Barrigada | 3,559 |
| Barrigada Heights | 2,239 |
| Chaguian | 2,524 |
Among these listed CDPs, Apotgan had 5,224 residents, followed by Astumbo with 3,921 and Adacao with 3,638. Afame had 771 residents, while Asan had 860. Andersen Air Force Base had 1,973 residents and Apra Harbor had 2,930. These are place-level Census counts for 2020, not forecasts of later population change.
Taken together, the Guam demographic statistics show an island with 153,836 residents in 2020, a median age of 33.7 years, varied household structures, meaningful differences in economic measures by tenure, broad smartphone and broadband access, and pronounced differences in population scale among municipalities and CDPs.