CHEYENNE, Wyo. — Two-thirds of the 30 large cities and towns, which consist of more than 2,000 people, in Wyoming added residents between July 1, 2021, and July 1, 2022, while the largest cities, Cheyenne and Casper, both lost population, according to population estimates released by the U.S. Census Bureau.
These new estimates provide a look at how the population has changed in each of Wyoming’s incorporated communities since the 2020 Census, according to a press release from the state’s Economic Analysis Division.
Per the release, for cities and towns with populations over 2,000, Mills demonstrated the fastest annual growth with 4.4%, followed by Star Valley Ranch with 3.3%. Gillette added 277 residents while Sheridan had 195 and Mills had 188. Those cities showed the most numerical addition from 2021 to 2022.
The state’s most populous city, Cheyenne, lost 456 residents, the most out of all the cities. Two cities — Jackson, which lost 171 residents, and Rawlins, which lost 101 — experienced population declines of more than 1%. Casper, which lost 220 residents, and Rock Springs, which lost 135 residents, also lost a large number of residents during the year, the release states.
As of July 1, 2022, 68.7% or 399,516 people in Wyoming lived in incorporated places. Nearly half of the state’s residents lived in eleven cities and towns with a population of more than 10,000. Wyoming’s total population grew by 1,898 or 0.3% from 2021 to 2022; however, the combined population for the state’s 99 cities and towns grew only 0.1% during the same period, the release states.
“The COVID-19 virus changed domestic migration trends and patterns in recent years,” said Wenlin Liu, chief economist with the State of Wyoming, Economic Analysis Division. “Many people with telework capabilities chose to relocate to less-populated and lower-cost areas during the pandemic.”
