Retiring Guy's Digest: Population loss in South Dakota: Miner County

Friday, July 19, 2019

Population loss in South Dakota: Miner County

It all started here.

Population loss as in major -- 50% or more.

Source: Wikipedia (Miner County, Howard)

Howard is the county seat of Miner 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% - Miner County
27.8% - South Dakota
30.9% - U.S.

Percentage of population 65 and older:

21.0% - Miner County
16.6% - South Dakota
15.6% - U.S.

Miner County voters fell hard for Trump.

Source: Wikipedia

Votes for 3rd-party candidates: 21.7% in 1992, 12% in 1996, 7.2% in 2016\

The Howard Public Library is located in the municipal building

Related reading:

In Bid to Hang On, Miner County, S.D., Downsizes Dreams. (Wall Street Journal, 3/25/2005)

This town has a different plan, evident to anyone driving the two-lane blacktop that cuts east to west through Miner County. At the eastern edge of Howard, an old slaughterhouse that had been vacant for 30 years is up and running again, this time in the production of organic beef. Just south of the town's busiest intersection, where cattle once grazed, a new housing development is under construction, bringing seven low-cost homes. Two wind turbines tower over the western end of town. At their feet sits a small turbine-repair shop staffed by former farmers and tractor repairmen.

Howard and the surrounding Miner County are at the center of an unusual campaign to rescue farm towns from extinction. Backed by $6 million in foundation grant money, residents here have adapted a survival strategy that is both radical and modest. They plan to let some of the dying pieces of the economy die and focus instead on niches in which small businesses can compete -- like organic beef and wind-turbine repair.