Arrivals boost local population

Newly released U.S. Census Bureau data reveals that a record 73% of American counties saw deaths outnumber births last year – but Crook County experienced quite the opposite.

However, the main reason for a significant increase in the local population appears to be migration.

Statistics reveal that this county was one of the beneficiaries of a national trend of people moving from more populated areas to more rural parts of the nation, driven in part by the pandemic.

“The patterns we’ve observed in domestic migration shifted in 2021,” said Dr. Christine Hartley, Census Bureau’s Population Division.

“Even though over time we’ve seen a higher number of counties with natural decrease and net international migration continuing to decline, in the past year, the contribution of domestic migration counteracted these trends so there were actually more counties growing than losing population.” 

The annual estimate of population increased in this county from 7178 to 7315 between the years of 2020 and 2021. This increase of 137 residents was a move in the opposite direction from the year before, when the Census Bureau records a loss of three people.

Unlike for 73% of America’s counties, births outweighed deaths in 2021. The number of local births was much higher – 106, compared to 32 in 2020 – but the number of deaths showed a similar trend; in 2020, 31 Crook County residents died, compared to 92 last year.

This created a “natural increase” of 14 residents in 2021 (up from one in 2020). Natural change is defined as the difference between births and deaths; a natural decrease occurs when there are more deaths than births, and a natural increase represents the opposite.

This only explains a portion of the population increase, so where did the rest come from?

The answer is migration. Last year, Crook County became home to an estimated 11 new international residents and 112 who moved here from within the United States.

The year before, no new residents came to the county from international destinations and the county actually lost three residents to domestic migration, according to the Census Bureau.

The Census Bureau found that people moving from larger, more populous counties to medium or smaller ones saw population increases in 1822 counties last year (or 58% of counties nationwide).

However, despite the overall rural nature of this state, not every Wyoming county experienced population boosts. Counties that saw their numbers decline include Campbell, Converse, Hot Springs, Niobrara, Natrona, Sublette, Sweetwater and Weston; in fact, Census Bureau numbers show that Crook County was alone in experiencing growth in the northeast corner of the state.

Due to this balancing effect, and despite significant growth in some counties, Wyoming’s population grew only modestly over the year, from 577,267 to 578,803.