Census shows county grew, but cities shrank

The population of Crook County as a whole has inched upwards over the last ten years according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2020 Census Redistricting Data. However, during that same timeframe, three out of the four county municipalities have shrunk.

The data shows that the population of the county has increased by a modest 1.4% since 2010, from 7083 to 7181 citizens. While small, this increase of 91 citizens is positive when compared to the rest of Wyoming, with fourteen of the 23 counties seeing population decreases over the last ten years.

Hulett saw the most dramatic decrease in terms of percentage at a loss of 19.3% of its population. With a small population of just 383 in 2010 that decreased to 309 by last year, this reflects a loss of 74 people.

Sundance also saw a significant reduction in population from 1182 to 1032. This loss of 150 citizens represents a 12.7% decline.

Moorcroft saw a 6.2% reduction in population with a decline of 63 residents. This lowered the population level from 1009 to 946 within the last decade.

Pine Haven was the only municipality recorded to have seen an increase in population. Over the last ten years, the number of people within Pine Haven has grown by just three, from 490 to 493, an increase of 0.6%.

Crook County still has one of the lowest population densities in the state at 2.5 people per square mile. While the majority of Wyoming has a population density less than ten, three counties have higher densities, with Laramie County highest at 37.4 people per square mile.

According to the census data, Wyoming has seen the seventh slowest growth rate in the nation over the last ten years, and also the slowest growth since the 1980s for this state. While Wyoming’s increase was just 2.3%, the total population of the United States increased by 7.4%.

The national increase is, itself, much slower than in recent years. The 7.4% between 2010 and 2020 is the second slowest on record, slightly higher than the 1930s.

Some Wyoming counties did see growth that out measured the national average. Laramie and Teton counties both saw 9.6% increases, for example, while Lincoln experienced an 8.1% uptick.

The steepest decrease within Wyoming during the 2010-2020 period was in Sublette County, which saw a population decline of 14.8%. Other counties showing significant decline include Washakie at 9.9% and Lincoln at 8.1%.

According to the Economic Analysis Division (EAD) of the Wyoming Department of Administration and Information, population change is driven by two factors: natural change (the difference between births and deaths) and net migration (the difference between people moving into an area and moving out.) At the state level, net migration was around -12,000, which means 12,000 more people left Wyoming than moved here during the last ten years.

The EAD attributes this to the downturn in the energy industry since June, 2014. Particularly in 2015 and 2016, Wyoming lost a third of its mineral extraction industry payroll jobs (9200 jobs in total.)

“Change in migration is mostly driven by changes in employment in Wyoming, while the fluctuation in labor force and employment always depends on the health of the state’s pivotal industry - mining (including oil & gas extraction),” said Dr. Wenlin Liu, Chief Economist.

The EAD reports that the natural change for Wyoming was approximately 25,200, with 72,300 births and 47,100 deaths.

The census data also reveals that Wyoming’s minority population reached 107,187 in April, 2020, which is a 34.4% increase. With 18.6% of the total population of this state, the proportion of minorities is still ranked the eighth lowest in the nation.