Wyo Gets More Crowded, Diverse, Old [AUDIO]
The Wyoming Economic Analysis Division has compiled a summary for Wyoming from the 2010 Census. Dr. Wenlin Liu (wunlin leeoo), senior economist with the division, said that Wyoming’s population increased by 14.1 percent, some 40 thousand more people, the third fastest increase in the nation.
Third biggest jump:
“Between 2006 and 2008, Wyoming had the strongest employment growth rate in the nation, so during that period, Wyoming’s economy really was booming. Between 2000 and 2010, 40,000 more people moved into Wyoming than people moving out, over this decade.”
Dr. Liu said another factor of that jump is because Wyoming’s population went down from 1980 to 1990, and there was relatively moderate growth in the 2000 Census.
Wyoming also followed the national trend of increasing diversity, with the Hispanic population leading the trend.
“Just like the nation or like many other states, Wyoming’s population is also continuing to getting more diverse. And from 2000 to 2010, Wyoming’s Hispanic population grew almost 20,000. That was a 58 percent increase.”
And Wyoming is still among the least diverse states with the ninth highest percentage of white population in the U.S., says Dr. Liu.
Ninth whitest in U.S.:
“Wyoming’s majority, white population was 85.9 percent. That was still the ninth highest in the nation for the white population, so for the US, the white population slowly declined to 63.7 percent.”
Because of the demographic super-group of baby boomers, Wyoming’s population is also getting proportionately older, faster.
“For the past 10 years the population under 18 years old increased only 5.1 percent. However, the population 45 to 64 years old, they grew 32.4 percent, so that’s the largest increase. The main reason for that was the baby boomers aging.”
Dr. Liu said some of the terminology in the census data can be confusing, such as categories of household, and he welcomed people to call the Economics Analysis office if they have any questions, (307)777-7161. You can find the summary on their website at eadiv.state.wy.us.