Retiring Guy's Digest: Population loss in Montana: Petroleum County/Winnett

Wednesday, August 21, 2019

Population loss in Montana: Petroleum County/Winnett

It all started here.

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

Source: Wikipedia (Petroleum County, Winnett)

Winnett is the county seat of Petroleum County.

Population loss by degrees: 80-90%, 70-79%, 60-69%, 50-59%.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts

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

25.3% - Petroleum County
30.7% - Montana
30.9% - U.S.

Percentage of population 65 and older:

25.0% - Petroleum County
18.7% - Montana
15.6% - U.S.

% of population living in poverty:

14.1% - Petroleum County
12.5% - Montana
12.3% - U.S.

The last time a Democratic candidate for president won Petroleum County was in 1964. Trump won 86.9% of the vote in 2016, best GOP performance ever.

Petroleum County Community Library, Winnett

Related reading:
Rural America -- We Are Here. (Prairie Populist, 1/23/2019)

There aren’t many of us out here – 500 people in all of Petroleum County. We are spread out, and we work full-time jobs, sometimes several jobs. We are mostly farmers and ranchers, teachers, and local government staff. We are not journalists, marketing directors, or graphic designers – it is hard to gather together to be loud enough to tell our own story. But, we have a story to tell. It’s not perfect and there are improvements to be made, for sure, but it is not so dismal as you might read in the New York Times. We love where we live, we work with our neighbors to keep our communities going, and we care about the land and our livestock.