Migration boosts county population

Wyoming is getting more crowded – and Crook has been welcoming more new residents than almost any other county.

According to new data from the Wyoming Department of Administration and Information, Crook County gained the second most newcomers during 2023, leading to a population increase of 2.3%.

This percentage represents a total of 173 new people now residing in the county, bringing the population estimate to 7592.

Sublette County beat this percentage only slightly at 2.5%. A total of 17 counties saw population increases, while six saw decreases between -0.2% in Washakie County and -1.4% in Carbon County.

Crook County’s population increase was almost five times the overall rate for Wyoming at 0.4% and also far above the national average of 0.5%.

The overall Wyoming population grew by 2428 people to 584,057.

Population changes are affected by two things: the number of births versus deaths and net migration (the difference between the number of people who have moved into and out of an area).

In Crook County, the population increase was almost entirely driven by migration.

“Nationwide, the pandemic-induced migration trend (moving from large metros to suburban and non-metro areas) slowed down in 2023, but this movement did not fade much for Wyoming,” said Dr. Wenlin Liu, Chief Economist.

“People continued to relocate to the state’s sparsely populated areas in the northern region such as Park, Big Horn, Sheridan, and Crook counties, as well as in the western areas including Lincoln and Sublette counties.”

The county recorded 87 births and 84 deaths between July, 2022 and July, 2023. This led to a “natural change” of three more county residents.

Meanwhile, the county gained 174 residents from domestic locations and lost three residents from international destinations. This led to an increase of 171 residents through migration.

This has been a continuing trend for the last few years. Since 2020, Crook County has gained 416 residents; only 13 of those have been due to natural change and 405 from migration (11 international and 394 domestic).

The migration trend also follows the overall pattern for Wyoming over the last year. Migration drove population increase statewide, with only 103 attributed to “natural change” last year.

A total of 5882 births and 5779 deaths were recorded in Wyoming between July, 2022 and July, 2023. Meanwhile, 2338 more people moved into the state than moved out.