BIG PICTURE: Rural population loss in Illinois is rampant

 

Illinois has 102 counties, and most of them can be classified as rural.

Alexander County (county seat: Cairo) has experienced an 82% drop in population since its 1940 peak of 25,496.  It now has fewer residents than it did before the Civil War.

 

Source:  Wikipedia

Sources: Illinois Policy (2021)  Illinois Policy (2022), Illinois Policy (2023), Illinois Policy (2024)

From Illinois Policy (2022)

While Illinois’ most populous areas are losing the largest number of residents, population decline is happening at the fastest rates in the state’ more rural areas. Alexander County and Edwards County led the state in population decline as a share of population.

Source:  Wikipedia

Related reading:

The Rural Yonder, 4/2/2024

Related posts:

April 2024

BIG PICTURE:   Rural Kansas counties continue to lose population.  (4/2)

BIG PICTURE:  Alabama and the long decline of rural population.  (4/2)

Population loss:  Northern and western rural counties lead the way in Pennsylvania.  (4/2)

BIG PICTURE:  Then there's rural Valley County, Montana, where the population has dropped 56% since its 1960 peak of 17,080.  (4/2)

March 2024

Residents of fastest growing county in Arkansas aren't big fans of Donald Trump.  (3/23)

Population loss along U.S. highway 6 in Pennsylvania.  (3/19)

14 of Wisconsin's 72 counties have experienced population gain of at least 1% since 2020.  (3/18)

One-third of Wisconsin's 72 counties have lost population since 2020.  (3/18)

2019

Population loss in rural Illinois (series)

Population loss in rural Kansas (series)

BIG PICTURE: Rural Kansas counties continue to lose population

 

Kansas has 105 counties, and most of them can be classified as 'rural'.

Corning Leader, Wichita Eagle, Associated Press, NPR

From the AP:

Five of the top 10 fastest-growing counties were in or close to the Kansas City metropolitan area. The state’s most populous county, Johnson County, has affluent Kansas City suburbs that have been growing for decades, and its population grew another 12.1% in the past 10 years. 

Census figures show that Kansas saw a 3% increase in population over 10 years, to almost 2.94 million. Population shifts within the state mean a shift in political clout away from rural areas and toward Kansas City and a few other areas when the Legislature redraws political boundaries next year.

From NPR:

In 2014, when he was the governor of Kansas, Sam Brownback made the bold prediction that the state would soon reach a new population milestone — Kansas would surpass a population of 3 million by 2020. 

Three years after the date he predicted, Kansas is still waiting for that three-millionth Kansan. U.S. Census figures show Kansas had a population of 2.93 million people in 2020. That’s an increase of just 85,000 residents in a decade — driven by growth in its larger cities and suburbs, not its small towns. 

Rural parts of the state continue to see significant declines. People like Cloutier and some state officials are trying to staunch the seemingly endless bleeding.  [emphasis added]

Related reading:

The Rural Yonder, 4/2/2024

Related posts:

April 2024

BIG PICTURE:  Alabama and the long decline of rural population.  (4/2)

Population loss:  Northern and western rural counties lead the way in Pennsylvania.  (4/2)

Big Picture:  Then there's rural Valley County, Montana, where the population has dropped 56% since its 1960 peak of 17,080.  (4/2)

March 2024

Residents of fastest growing county in Arkansas aren't big fans of Donald Trump.  (3/23)

Population loss along U.S. highway 6 in Pennsylvania.  (3/19)

14 of Wisconsin's 72 counties have experienced population gain of at least 1% since 2020.  (3/18)

One-third of Wisconsin's 72 counties have lost population since 2020.  (3/18)

2019

Population loss in rural Kansas (series)

BIG PICTURE: Alabama and the long decline of rural population

 

Top headline:  Birmingham Watch, 1/19/2024

Population:  Wikipedia

Bottom headline:  Alabama Reflector, 1/19/2024

From the Birmingham Watch:

Population is declining in Alabama’s rural counties, particularly in the Black Belt, even as urban and suburban counties are growing. 

As the population has dropped off, good-paying jobs have left. The population has gotten older and sicker, but hospitals have closed and doctors have left the area. With fewer students, schools have become fewer and farther between. 

The Alabama Reflector investigated these issues and produced a three-part series:

From the Alabama Reflector: 

The lack of health care providers in rural Alabama is stark. Most of Alabama’s rural counties have significantly more people per primary care physician than urban counties. Butler County, where Hashaway lives, has just one primary care physician per 4,900 residents, according to data from County Health Rankings & Roadmaps (CHR&R), a University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute program. The average in Alabama is 1,520 people per one physician.

 

Related reading:

The Rural Yonder, 4/2/2024

Related posts:

April 2024

Population loss:  Northern and western rural counties lead the way in Pennsylvania.  (4/2)

Big Picture:  Then there's rural Valley County, Montana, where the population has dropped 56% since its 1960 peak of 17,080.  (4/2)

March 2024

Residents of fastest growing county in Arkansas aren't big fans of Donald Trump.  (3/23)

Population loss along U.S. highway 6 in Pennsylvania.  (3/19)

14 of Wisconsin's 72 counties have experienced population gain of at least 1% since 2020.  (3/18)

One-third of Wisconsin's 72 counties have lost population since 2020.  (3/18)