The five most rapidly growing large cities and towns (2.5% or higher) between July 1, 2012 and July 1, 2013 are all located in Central and Western Wyoming, according to population estimates released by the U.S. Census Bureau.

These estimates provide a look at how much total population has changed in each
of Wyoming’s incorporated places since the 2010 Census. The town of Bar Nunn in Natrona County showed the fastest growth, 9.4 percent. Mills, Douglas, Jackson and Casper round out the top 5for growth. Those losing population include the communities of Wright, Shoshoni and Riverton, but the biggest losses come from Sublette County losing over 3% of their population in the towns of Big Piney, Marbleton and Pinedale.

Dr. Wenlin Liu, principal economist with State of Wyoming, Economic Analysis Division said,

“Migration is mostly driven by change in employment, which is particularly true for Wyoming, People tend to move to areas where there are jobs available. Active oil drilling in the southern Powder River Basin and viable tourism related activities in the Northwestern region have resulted in a higher demand for labor in those areas,”

Cheyenne and Casper are still the only cities in the state with population over 50,000, and together they contributed 42.2 percent to Wyoming’s total population increase during the year.

As of July 1, 2013, 68.9 percent, or 401,487 people in Wyoming lived in incorporated
places. Over 45 percent of the State’s population lived in ten cities with population of more than 10,000. Overall, Wyoming’s population grew by 1.0 percent from July 2012 to July 2013. However, the large cities and towns with population of over 2,000, together, grew 1.3 percent, slightly faster than the 1.2 percent for all the state’s incorporated places. There are 99 cities and towns in Wyoming.

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