Retiring Guy's Digest: Population loss in North Dakota: Sheridan County

Saturday, August 3, 2019

Population loss in North Dakota: Sheridan County

It all started here.

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

Source: Wikipedia (Sheridan County, McClusky)

McClusky is the county seat of Sheridan County, just north of Burleigh County (population 95,275), where the state capital of Bismarck is located.

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:

14.1% - Sheridan County
28.9% - North Dakota
30.9% - U.S.

Percentage of population 65 and older:

32.4% - Sheridan County
15.3% - North Dakota
15.6% - U.S.

The last time Sheridan County voted Democratic in a presidential election was 1936. Trump won 82.6% of the vote in 2016.

Related reading:
With Rural Towns Vanishing, States Choose Which to Save. (The New York Times, 1/3/1990)

Since the 1950's half the people and most of the businesses have left the barren buttes and prairies of Sheridan County in central North Dakota. The county has no doctor, no hospital, no traffic light, no Greyhound bus service and more ghost towns than live ones.

McClusky, the county's biggest town, might not be here if it were not the county seat, residents say. It has barely 600 people and a withering Main Street dotted with storefronts that have been closed for years. Nobody can remember when a new building last went up.