The new population estimates are out. (Omaha, Lincoln: house, schools, subdivisions)

[GraniteStater]

The Census Bureau released the population change for the US between 2006 and 2007. Here is the breakdown by county for Nebraska:
http://www.census.gov/popest/countie...2007-03-31.xls

Looking at the data it is not surprising that the fastest growing counties are urban/suburban, and the fastest declining counties are generally classified as "frontier."

Will some of the Sand Hills countie(s) consolidate in the future to form a larger county?

[tpabes]

Doubt it, there was a proposal I believe to consolidate county's in Nebraska to make them larger, basically to reduce the amount of counties and save some money. It got nowhere in the legistlature. Most western Nebraskan's are not up for a huge change, especially when it comes to something like losing their county. I remember people being worried about losing their county "number" on license plates, when Lincoln and Omaha had to go away from the "number" because of population.

Now if it really came to it, they would consolidate, like many of the schools have had too, but I don't see it in the near future.

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by tpabes

Doubt it, there was a proposal I believe to consolidate county's in Nebraska to make them larger, basically to reduce the amount of counties and save some money. It got nowhere in the legistlature. Most western Nebraskan's are not up for a huge change, especially when it comes to something like losing their county. I remember people being worried about losing their county "number" on license plates, when Lincoln and Omaha had to go away from the "number" because of population.

Now if it really came to it, they would consolidate, like many of the schools have had too, but I don't see it in the near future.

The counties that are losing a lot of younger people in Nebraska are the southern tier counties as well as some of the rural western counties. This has been happening for many decades now as a greater influx of people move to urbanized areas with a greater amount of job diversity. Nearly all of the northern tier counties in KS have lost population over the past 100 years.

[Chris19]

I agree with Plains 10's comments and South Dakota is seeing similar shift from rural to urban. In South Dakota, the counties in the Black Hills area, Sioux Falls/1-29 corridor area, and others with larger communities such as Mitchell and Pierre have growing populations. Many counties have lost populations due to older people dying off, younger people moving for more opportunity, and less people staying and keeping things going.

There has also been talk in South Dakota about county consolidation and one proposal earlier this decade had twelve counties with the cities of over 10,000 as county seats. One county would cover the entire northwest part of the state (very sparse population) from the Wyoming/Montana line to the Missouri River and down to the Pierre area in one county with 150-200 miles in width of the county. This has unsettled many people.

I see that many counties in Nebraska that are outside of the Platte River Valley and the Omaha/Lincoln areas have been losing population.

To me, it is scary to imagine what these counties will be like in 30-40 years, when there are very few younger people left to keep things going in those counties.

[itsMeFred]

North Dakota is already facing that crisis.

The average population of the state is getting older and older. Not only is there a brain-drain, but since younger people are the ones who work (and are paying taxes) there is an ever increasing gap in the money needed versus the money collected.

[Chris19]

I think that North Dakota is in tougher shape than in South Dakota and South Dakota has had stronger and more growth areas as opposed to North Dakota. I think that South Dakota and Nebraska are in a similar situation, except that South Dakota has a growing Native American population (in its isolated reservations) and Nebraska is getting immigrants moving to areas outside of the Omaha/Lincoln area such as Grand Island, Lexington, and other communities.

[chimney rock newfoundland]

So many people have sold out elsewhere and relocated to the hills. We had the last place before the Wyoming border NW of Crazy Horse. It was an old stagecoach house for the Custer-Deadwood stage built in 1890. When we sold there were two subdivisions near us and another one starting. Out of 13 springs 8 had dried up and I am sure more are dry by now. Wells in that area are going dry.
That is why we relocated to near Gering. We sold our 22 acres in the hills and paid cash for a 120 acre farm. The land in the hills was going for $20,000. an acre. That's why we moved here. I know we now pay a state income tax when SD doesn't but I would never move back.
We have been down here for 2 years and love it. No traffic jams with tourist, Sturgis rally, and at least in our area no massive subdivisions. YET!!

[mtgman3mil]

do the population estimates include residents inside city limits or solely outside city limits? I've been thinking about moving to Kimball, in Kimball county. The city I see has about 2500 people while the county has about 3500. So, would that mean there is about 6000 people total in the county including the city of Kimball?

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by mtgman3mil

do the population estimates include residents inside city limits or solely outside city limits? I've been thinking about moving to Kimball, in Kimball county. The city I see has about 2500 people while the county has about 3500. So, would that mean there is about 6000 people total in the county including the city of Kimball?

The latest data suggests about 3600 people total for Kimball County and about 2300 people in the town of Kimball itself.
Kimball County QuickFacts from the US Census Bureau
Extrapolate a 2-3% loss between 2006-07 suggested by the Census and you have around 3600 people for the entire county.

[tpabes]

The county would include Kimball, I believe. Kimball is battling population loss like many cities in western Nebraska.