ANGOLA — Northeast Indiana counties saw modest population growth between 2020 and 2023, estimates released Thursday by the U.S. Census Bureau showed.
Many rural counties across the country saw declines, though northeast Indiana seemed to hold its own.
“Population trends in northeast Indiana are representative of national trends,” said Rachel Blakeman, director of Purdue University Fort Wayne Community Research Institute. “Metro areas are growing via suburban communities while increases are no longer guaranteed for rural areas as population decline becomes the norm for many counties. The reality is that population growth in the Midwest and northeastern states is challenging, especially as southern and western locations see remarkable annual increases. As the population ages and birth rates flatten or decline, we can expect to see more population decline locally via natural increase in the next decade.”
In the four-county area, the greatest growth in terms of total numbers and percent change from 2020 to July 1, 2023, was DeKalb County, which increased by 938 people, which represented a change of 2.2%. The county's population was an estimated 44,198 on 2023.
All of the counties saw growth between 2022 and 2023.
Steuben County had an increase of 1.4% with population growing by 478 people to a new total of 34,917.
LaGrange County grew by 454 people for a change of 1.1%.
Noble County was the only county in the four-county area that saw a decline, albeit ever so slight. Noble County's population declined to 47,460 from 47,462, a decline of a negative 0.1%.
On the positive side, the 2023 estimate was higher than 2022's population of 47,234, so it reversed a downward trend that started in 2021, Blakeman noted.
Statewide, 26 counties lost population. For the 11-county northeast Indiana region, the annual population increase was 0.5% for 3,848 more residents, bringing the total population to 809,397.
Much of that was bolstered by increases in Allen County, the only metro area in northeast Indiana.
Allen County’s population grew by 2,901 people between 2022 and 2023, according to population estimates released today from the U.S. Census Bureau. Indiana’s third-largest county by population had 394,545 residents on July 1, 2023, compared to 391,644 on July 1, 2022, resulting in a 0.7% population increase, according to data analysis by the Purdue University Fort Wayne Community Research Institute. Allen County was the 15th fastest growing county in Indiana, when comparing 2020 to 2023. Comparing the 2023 estimate to the 385,394 residents in the 2020 estimates base, Allen County grew at 2.4%.
Switching over to elements of population change for 2022 to 2023, Allen County’s population increased by 1,762 people via natural change (the difference between births and deaths) and 1,123 net migrations with 1,020 international migrants and 103 domestic migrants. Regionally, Adams, Huntington and Kosciusko counties lost population due to net migration. Huntington, Steuben, Wabash and Wells counties had negative natural increase, where deaths outpaced births.
More U.S. counties experienced population gains than losses in 2023, as counties in the South saw faster growth and more Northeast and Midwest counties had population losses turn to gains, the data released Thursday said.
Approximately 60% (1,876) of U.S. counties gained population from 2022 to 2023, an increase from the 52% of counties (1,649) that experienced population growth between 2021 and 2022. Among the nation's 3,144 counties, the average change from 2022 to 2023 was 0.29%, up from 0.17% the previous year.
“Domestic migration patterns are changing, and the impact on counties is especially evident,” said Lauren Bowers, chief of the Census Bureau’s Population Estimates Branch. “Areas which experienced high levels of domestic out-migration during the pandemic, such as in the Midwest and Northeast, are now seeing more counties with population growth. Meanwhile, county population growth is slowing down out west, such as in Arizona and Idaho.”
This was the first time since 2020 that more counties in the Midwest had population gains (542) than losses (513), narrowing the average annual change among the region's 1,055 counties to a loss of 0.02% from a loss of 0.09% a year earlier.
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