Population loss in rural Kansas: Smith County

As in major -- 50% or more.

Source:  Wikipedia (Smith County, Smith Center)

Smith Center is the county seat of Smith County.

Population loss by degrees:  80-89%, 70-79%, 60-69%, 50-59%.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts

Percentage of population 25 and older with a bachelor's degree:

• 20.1% - Smith County
• 32.3% - Kansas
• 30.9% - U.S.

Percentage of population 65 and older:

• 27.5% - Smith County
• 15.4% - Kansas
• 15.6% - U.S.

The last time Smith County voted for a Democratic candidate for president was in 1932, when FDR won his 1st of 4 terms.  In 1964, Goldwater beat LBJ by 5.6 percentage points, and third-party candidate George Wallace received 7.7% of the vote in 1968.

Smith Center Public Library

Related reading:

Where Many Elderly Live, Signs of the Future.  (The New York Times, 3/7/1993)

There are 265 of them, the oldest elderly of Smith County, and almost half live alone. Like the neat array of photographs in their living rooms, they seem part of the past, their lives steady and predictable as prairie winds. But demographically, this bit of northern Kansas is a preview of the future. 

More than 5 percent of the people here are at least 85 years old, the highest proportion of any county in the country. And by the year 2050, experts on aging say, 5 percent of the entire American population is likely to be that old, up from 1.2 percent today.

Other Kansas population loss posts:
West
Cheyenne County/St. Francis.  (5/10/2019)
Rawlins County/Atwood.  (5/10/2019)
Decatur County/Oberlin.  (5/11/2019)
Sheridan County/Hoxie.  (5 /12/2019)
Gove County/Gove City.  (5/12/2019)
Lane County/Dighton.  (5/12/2019)

West central
Clark County/Ashland. (5/13/2019)
Hodgeman County/Jetmore.  (5/13/2019)
Ness County/Ness City.  (5 /13/2019)
Trego County/WaKeeney.  (5/13/2019)
Graham County/Hill City.  (5/13/2019)
Norton County/Norton.  (5/13/2019)
Phillips County/Phillipsburg.  (5/14/2019)
Rooks County/Plainville.  (5/14/2019)
Edwards County/Kinsley.  (5/14/2019)
Kiowa County/Greensburg.  (5/14/2019)
Comanche County/Coldwater.  (5/15/2019)
Barber County/Medicine Lodge.  (5/15/2019)
Stafford County/St. John.  (5/16/2019)
Osborne County/Osborne.  (5/17/2019)

Other population loss series:
Detroit metro.
Iowa.
Nebraska.
Ohio.
Pennsylvania.