Less Than Half of Wyoming Counties Added Residents in 2024

As of July 2024, Wyoming’s resident population reached 587,618, reflecting a moderate growth, according to estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau. This marks an annual increase of 2,551 individuals, or 0.4 percent, which is lower than the national growth rate of 1.0 percent observed from July 2023.

Eleven counties experienced population increases from July 2023 to July 2024. Crook County led the state with the fastest growth rate (2.4%), followed by Albany (1.7%) and Sheridan (1.2%) counties. Niobrara and Washakie counties experienced the steepest decreases, -1.1 percent and -1.0 percent, respectively. Laramie and Natrona counties, the only two Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) in the state, grew moderately at 0.7 percent and 0.6 percent correspondingly.

There are two factors that contribute to population change: natural change from vital events and net migration from people’s movement. The natural change, calculated as 6,037 births minus 5,634 deaths, was 403. The estimated net migration - defined as in-migration minus out-migration - was 2,146, indicating that 2,146 more persons moved into Wyoming than moved out of the state between July 2023 and July 2024. In contrast, for the previous two years, net migration was 3,000 and 2,778, respectively. “Following an extraordinary event in 2021, when deaths surpassed births during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, Wyoming has since experienced a positive natural change,” according to Dr. Wenlin Liu, Chief Economist with the State of Wyoming, Economic Analysis Division. Nevertheless, the ongoing decrease in the fertility rate (births per 1,000 females aged 15-44) and the aging of the baby boomer generation (born between 1946 and 1964) have significantly reduced the population growth from natural increase compared to pre-pandemic levels. In recent years, the natural change has averaged around 400 annually, which is just a small fraction of the 1,446 recorded in 2019 and 3,015 a decade earlier. Across the state, approximately half of the counties showed negative natural change (more deaths than births), and most of them are small and rural counties such as Hot Springs, Johnson, Niobrara, and Platte where nearly 30 percent of their population was 65 years and over. In contrast, Campbell, Albany, and Laramie counties experienced large natural increases in 2024.

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