Wisconsin’s rural counties have faced depopulation at a higher rate than ever before, likely worsening economic problems in the rural areas, according to a new report from Forward Analytics.
From 2010-’18, two-thirds of rural counties — 31 out of 46 — across the state saw a decline in their population, the report stated.
Wisconsin rural populations saw an increase in the 1990s, though these populations began to decline in the early 2000s.
This change in population pattern can be attributed to two main trends: a general decline in population as less people are being born, and migration from rural areas to urban areas.
Those trends are expected to continue in the next decades.
Depopulation in Wisconsin has been less severe as compared to rural counties in other states, with a 1 percent loss opposed to the national average of 2 percent. Still, this change could have large negative consequences.
For example, Manitowoc County on Lake Michigan is expected to lose 4 percent of its population by 2040. On the extreme end, Price County in north central Wisconsin is predicted to lose 18 percent during that same time frame.
Additionally, other results of depopulation are less workers in the labor force, an increased unemployment rate, a decrease in jobs available, reduced business and lower income.
"As you see population decline, you see declines in the number of jobs and declines in the number of businesses," Forward Analytics director Dale Kapp, said to WPR. "We know that hits rural communities very hard.”
Kapp noted that Wisconsin’s diversified economy — with its interests in agriculture, manufacturing and tourism — should help the affected state during its depopulation compared to other states that rely solely on one industry.
Features editor
