County outstrips state average in population growth

According to the results of last year’s national census, performed by the United States Census Bureau, the population of Crook County has grown by 7.1% over the last decade. This is a faster rate of growth than the 6.3% average for the United States at a whole.

It’s also much higher than the rest of Wyoming, which has seen just a 2.7% growth in population since the last census in 2010. During those ten years, Crook County has grown from 7080 residents to an estimated 7584.

While some other counties have also seen growth, such as Teton at 10.2%, Laramie at 8.3% and Natrona at 5.8%, others have remained relatively stagnant, like Campbell at 0.5% and Goshen at -0.3%. A number have seen their populations decline, including Weston County at -3.9%, Hot Springs at -8.3% and Washakie County at -8.5%.

This gives Crook County a population per square mile of just 2.5, which is considerably lower than the national average of 87.4 and lower than Wyoming’s 5.8 persons per square mile.

This county also has a slightly higher number of young people than the national and Wyoming means: 7.3% of the population is under five years old compared to 6% both in Wyoming and nationwide, while 24.7% are under 18 years old compared to 22.3% nationwide and 23.1% in this state.

At the other end of the age scale, Crook County also has more residents over the age of 65 years than the United States and Wyoming averages. While just 16.5% of Americans are in this category, and 17.1% of Wyomingites, this age range hosts 21.1% of the county’s residents.

Crook County boasts 692 veterans and 1.8% of the population is foreign born. A total of 96.2% of the county’s residents are white, with the next highest category Hispanic or Latino at 2.5%, followed by Black or African American at 1.4%, American Indian at 1% and Asian at 0.2%.

Crook County has more high school graduates than the national average a 92.7% compared to 88%. However, the county has fewer residents with a bachelor’s degree or higher at 22.3% compared to 32.1%.

An estimated 5.6% of residents under the age of 65 have a disability, compared to a national average of 8.6%, while 13.7% of Crook County citizens under the age of 65 do not have health insurance, which is significantly higher than the national average of 9.5%.