Urban vs Rural Population Trends On the Plains (Wichita, Kansas City: credit, hotel)

[GraniteStater]

Case Study:

First A Map:



Next The Data:
(105 Counties Listed in Alphabetical Order)
(Population Percentage Change Between 2000-July 1, 2007.)
Source: US Census Bureau

Allen -6.7% (2007 Pop 13414)
Anderson -2.4% (2007 Pop 7908)
Atchison -0.1% (2007 Pop 16571)
Barber -9.8% (2007 Pop 4786)*Frontier County
Barton -1.5% (2007 Pop 27768)
Bourbon -3.7% (2007 Pop 14803)
Brown -6.1% (2007 Pop 10068)
Butler 5.9% (2007 Pop 63045)#Metro County (Wichita)
Chase -4.8% (2007 Pop 2882)*Frontier County
Chautauqua -12.6% (2007 Pop 3806)
Cherokee -5.6% (2007 Pop 21337)
Cheyenne -11.5% (2007 Pop 2801)
Clark -12.3% (2007 Pop 2094)*Frontier County
Clay -1.5% (2007 Pop 8685)
Cloud -8.6% (2007 Pop 9382)
Coffey -4.6% (2007 Pop 8454)
Commanche -4.0% (2007 Pop 1888)*Frontier County
Cowley -5.6% (2007 Pop 34251)
Crawford 1.6% (2007 Pop 38860)
Decatur -14.8% (2007 Pop 2955)*Frontier County
Dickinson -2.0% (2007 Pop 18957)
Doniphan -5.9% (2007 Pop 7756)
Douglas 13.5% (2007 Pop 113488)#Metro County (Lawrence)
Edwards -9.9% (2007 Pop 3106)*Frontier County
Elk -6.7% (2007 Pop 3040)*Frontier County
Ellis 0% (2007 Pop 27464)
Ellsworth -3.2% (2007 Pop 6310)
Finney -5.4% (2007 Pop 38295)
Ford 2.7% (2007 Pop 33340)
Franklin 6.8% (2007 Pop 26479)#Metro County (Kansas City)
Geary -10.0% (2007 Pop 25150)
Gove -14.0% (2007 Pop 2637)*Frontier County
Graham -11.5% (2007 Pop 2607)*Frontier County
Grant -5.2% (2007 Pop 7497)
Gray -4.4% (2007 Pop 5641)*Frontier County
Greeley -15.4% (2007 Pop 1297)*Frontier County
Greenwood -8.8% (2007 Pop 6993)*Frontier County
Hamilton -1.4% (2007 Pop 2632)*Frontier County
Harper -10.9% (2007 Pop 5819)
Harvey 1.8% (2007 Pop 33493)
Haskell -6.3% (2007 Pop 4032)
Hodgeman -5.4% (2007 Pop 1971)*Frontier County
Jackson 6.0% (2007 Pop 13420)#Metro County (Topeka)
Jefferson 0% (2007 Pop 18467)#Metro County (Topeka)
Jewell -15.6% (2007 Pop 3198)*Frontier County
Johnson 16.6% (2007 Pop 526319)#Metro County (Kansas City)
Kearny -8.4% (2007 Pop 4148)*Frontier County
Kingman -9.7% (2007 Pop 7826)
Kiowa -9.9% (2007 Pop 2953)*Frontier County
Labette -3.7% (2007 Pop 21973)
Lane -18.9% (2007 Pop 1746)*Frontier County
Leavenworth 7.1% (2007 Pop 73603)
Lincoln -8.1% (2007 Pop 3285)*Frontier County
Linn 2.0% (2007 Pop 9767)
Logan -13.7% (2007 Pop 2628)*Frontier County
Lyon 0% (2007 Pop 35981)
McPherson -1.2% (2007 Pop 29196)
Marion -8.4% (2007 Pop 12238)
Marshall -7.1% (2007 Pop 10186)
Meade -4.9% (2007 Pop 4403)
Miami 9.6% (2007 Pop 31078)#Metro County (Kansas City)
Mitchell -9.0% (2007 Pop 6307)
Montgomery -4.8% (2007 Pop 34511)
Morris -2.2% (2007 Pop 5967)
Morton -13.1% (2007 Pop 3038)*Frontier County
Nemaha -4.8% (2007 Pop 10201)
Neosho -4.5% (2007 Pop 16228)
Ness -13.4% (2007 Pop 2991)*Frontier County
Norton -8.9% (2007 Pop 5422)*Frontier County
Osage -1.5% (2007 Pop 16459)
Osborne -13.0% (2007 Pop 3871)*Frontier County
Ottawa -2.5% (2007 Pop 6006)
Pawnee -11.3% (2007 Pop 6415)
Phillips -10.7% (2007 Pop 5356)*Frontier County
Pottawatomie 6.5% (2007 Pop 19396)
Pratt -2.2% (2007 Pop 9426)
Rawlins -13.7% (2007 Pop 2558)*Frontier County
Reno -2.5% (2007 Pop 63145)
Republic -16.0% (2007 Pop 4901)*Fallen Back Into Frontier Status
Rice -6.3% (2007 Pop 10080)
Riley 9.9% (2007 Pop 69083)
Rooks -9.2% (2007 Pop 5160)*Frontier County
Rush -9.5% (2007 Pop 3211)*Frontier County
Russell -8.5% (2007 Pop 6737)
Saline 1.8% (2007 Pop 54583)
Scott -10.7% (2007 Pop 4568)*Frontier County
Sedgwick 5.1% (2007 Pop 476026)#Metro County (Wichita)
Seward 2.6% (2007 Pop 23109)
Shawnee 2.1% (2007 Pop 173476)#Metro County (Topeka)
Sheridan -11.3% (2007 Pop 2493)*Frontier County
Sherman -11.8% (2007 Pop 5959)*Frontier County
Smith -12.9% (2007 Pop 3951)*Frontier County
Stafford -8.3% (2007 Pop 4387)*Frontier County
Stanton -10.1% (2007 Pop 2162)*Frontier County
Stevens -7.3% (2007 Pop 5061)
Sumner -7.9% (2007 Pop 23888)#Metro County (Wichita)
Thomas -10.5% (2007 Pop 7314)*Fallen Back Into Frontier Status
Trego -11.8% (2007 Pop 2927)*Frontier County
Wabaunsee 0% (2007 Pop 6870)
Wallace -16.7% (2007 Pop 1456)*Frontier County
Washington -9.9% (2007 Pop 5840)*Frontier County
Wichita -13.0% (2007 Pop 2200)*Frontier County
Wilson -5.0% (2007 Pop 9807)
Woodson -12.4% (2007 Pop 3318)*Fallen Back Into Frontier Status
Wyandotte -2.4% (2007 Pop 153956)#Metro County (Kansas City)


I also found these two items interesting:
U.S. Frontier Counties 2000 Consensus
Frontier Map 10

(Conclusion)
Kansas, like many Great Plains states, continues to urbanize faster than the national average. Approximately 80% of the residents in the state live in a metro area or near a metro area. The rural population continues to decline at a very fast rate, and less than 20% of the population lives in rural areas of the state. Another few items of interest are regarding the stabalizing influence regional centers have on the local economy in certain counties, and the near complete collapse in population in many of the frontier counties that have fewer than 7 people per square mile.

Post data regarding your state, and tell us about which counties are growing and which ones are declining.


Source Credit: Frontier Education Center - National Clearinghouse for Frontier Communities (http://www.frontierus.org/2000update.htm - broken link)

[KevK]

Not surprising. Young people do not wish to live in small towns with few opportunities anymore. They grow up, go away to college or the military and never return.

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by KevK

Not surprising. Young people do not wish to live in small towns with few opportunities anymore. They grow up, go away to college or the military and never return.

What is shocking is that some of these counties seem to consistently decline by 10% or more every ten years. Smith County had around 18,000 people in 1900 and only has 3,900 people today. The urban areas in eastern Kansas account for most of the population growth in the state with some coming from the Wichita metro. College towns are harder to get an accurate estimate for because they have a more transient population.

[Vision-Quest]

first of Plains, this is really cool information that you posted. i can deffinantly understand this trend of rural counties losing population. im on of those 6.3% of people that left rice county. lyons, sterling are so boring. chase doesnt even have a good store, and alden is trash. my point, nobody wants to live in the middle of nowhere when all your town has got is a gas station.

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by Vision-Quest

first of Plains, this is really cool information that you posted. i can deffinantly understand this trend of rural counties losing population. im on of those 6.3% of people that left rice county. lyons, sterling are so boring. chase doesnt even have a good store, and alden is trash. my point, nobody wants to live in the middle of nowhere when all your town has got is a gas station.

I also know two people who now live in eastern Kansas who were originally from Lane County! The towns in that county pretty much have nothing left these days. They lost nearly 20% of their population in 7 years. I find that incredible.

[Vision-Quest]

ya me too. i think I-70 has alot to do with that.
Example: take a look at Larned/Pawnee County: Population of the county has gone down 11.3%. the city's population went from 4,800 to 3,700 in 25 years. before I-70 came in, US 56 was a major highway back in the days and the town probably got more visitors. you see towns like goodland, hays, and colby on I-70 in the north, they get more buisness with stuff from hotel chains to more well known buisness's. those towns on the long stretch of 70 gained population in the 80's and 90's. than that was the new road to go on, so all the towns on roads like 56, 96, 50, 54, they all got abandond because theres no reason to go out there, and theres nothing but flat, deserted land in most places... if you have see the movie "Cars", this is the perfect example of whats happening to small rural towns in kansas.

[michigan83]

Sorry to bump this old thread but I thought this was a really interesting topic!

I recently visited the Larned/Rozel/Burdett area in KS to visit relatives, and I was amazed at the differences betweed rural Michigan (where I live) and rural KS. Like the other posts mentioned, those smaller towns seem to be turning into ghost towns. Larned seemed to be doing OK, but Rozel and Burdett seemed almost completely devoid of life! Other than the grain elevator and post office, everything was vacant/abandoned. Some of the houses in town were occupied, but I had to wonder how many were empty. I also had a chance to ride around on the dirt roads (my cousin lived 15 miles outside town) and of the very few houses that were spread out amongst the open fields, a lot of them looked empty as well. My cousin mentioned that nearly everyone leaves town after graduating high school and never comes back.

This was all somewhat of a surprise to me, because I grew up in a town of only 350 in an agricultural area of Michigan. Without knowing any better, I thought I would feel right at home in a farming community in Kansas. It was a completely different animal, though. I think the biggest difference is that you could live in my town (or most small towns here) and commute to a larger city for work. I can see now that the ability to commute brings a lot of population and wealth that wouldn't otherwise be anywhere near a small town. In SW Kansas, it was pretty obvious that it was either work in agriculture or leave. And with advances in farming, those ag jobs are probably growing more scarce.

Anyway, just thought I would share my observations. Not trying to knock on those places, either. I thoroughly enjoyed my time in rural Kansas! It would be difficult to live there permanently, though.

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by michigan83

Sorry to bump this old thread but I thought this was a really interesting topic!

I recently visited the Larned/Rozel/Burdett area in KS to visit relatives, and I was amazed at the differences betweed rural Michigan (where I live) and rural KS. Like the other posts mentioned, those smaller towns seem to be turning into ghost towns. Larned seemed to be doing OK, but Rozel and Burdett seemed almost completely devoid of life! Other than the grain elevator and post office, everything was vacant/abandoned. Some of the houses in town were occupied, but I had to wonder how many were empty. I also had a chance to ride around on the dirt roads (my cousin lived 15 miles outside town) and of the very few houses that were spread out amongst the open fields, a lot of them looked empty as well. My cousin mentioned that nearly everyone leaves town after graduating high school and never comes back.

This was all somewhat of a surprise to me, because I grew up in a town of only 350 in an agricultural area of Michigan. Without knowing any better, I thought I would feel right at home in a farming community in Kansas. It was a completely different animal, though. I think the biggest difference is that you could live in my town (or most small towns here) and commute to a larger city for work. I can see now that the ability to commute brings a lot of population and wealth that wouldn't otherwise be anywhere near a small town. In SW Kansas, it was pretty obvious that it was either work in agriculture or leave. And with advances in farming, those ag jobs are probably growing more scarce.

Anyway, just thought I would share my observations. Not trying to knock on those places, either. I thoroughly enjoyed my time in rural Kansas! It would be difficult to live there permanently, though.

Rural areas of Michigan are definitely NOTHING like rural areas of Kansas Rural areas of Michigan have a much higher population density compared to any area of Kansas (with the exception being the southeastern counties). Also, the crop types are more mixed in Michigan with a lot more orchards. Michigan also doesn't have the extreme population declines in the rural counties compared to Kansas. Some people can tolerate the extreme isolation if they are self-employed, but that only works for so many people when the services available are quite limited.

[Samantha S]

Originally Posted by GraniteStater

Some people can tolerate the extreme isolation if they are self-employed, but that only works for so many people when the servcies available are quite limited.

Agreed, the decline isn't surprising to me. KS is an ag state. There are 2.5 times as many cows in KS as there are people! 100 years ago, it took a lot of man power to run farms, so small towns dotting the plains about every 10-15 miles did well and had their own little local economies. Generations of kids stuck around and took over the family farms.

Nowadays, machines do most of the hard labor on the farms. So people have to go where the jobs are. Small towns that are close enough for most people commute to work, or that are along the I-70 corridor and get tourists coming through as well as have easier highway access for manufacturing companies to set up shop like Salina, Hays, Colby, Goodland have fared better.

The evolution is interesting, but not surprising.

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by Samantha S

Agreed, the decline isn't surprising to me. KS is an ag state. There are 2.5 times as many cows in KS as there are people! 100 years ago, it took a lot of man power to run farms, so small towns dotting the plains about every 10-15 miles did well and had their own little local economies. Generations of kids stuck around and took over the family farms.

Nowadays, machines do most of the hard labor on the farms. So people have to go where the jobs are. Small towns that are close enough for most people commute to work, or that are along the I-70 corridor and get tourists coming through as well as have easier highway access for manufacturing companies to set up shop like Salina, Hays, Colby, Goodland have fared better.

The evolution is interesting, but not surprising.

Many of my relatives still live in Russell and Osborne counties where they operate the family ranch. I always enjoy visiting that area because it still has that frontier spirit that is non-existant in most areas of the lower 48