| |
The 2000 Census Figures are In
Posted 03-26-2001
Well, the 2000 Census figures are out. If one is an optimist, they may say,
"Westmoreland County only lost 328 people compared to some neighboring
counties who lost thousands." If one is a pessimist, they may say, "We
didn't grow again, but actually lost a few hundred people." I am not at all
confident with the accuracy of the results and find it hard to believe that
this county didn't show a net population growth. The 2000 Census shows our
population at 369,993 down from the 1990 total of 370,321.
I am not a demographer and
sit in the very biased position of being one of the leading advocates for
Westmoreland County. I do know what took place here in the 1980's when the
economy struggled greatly and we lost 22,000 people. With that information
in mind, I guess the 1990's were much better for our county. Our situation,
when compared to other counties in the region, is sort of middle of the
road. Butler County was clearly the big gainer in the region with a gain of
14.5% and now has 174,000 people. Virtually all that growth was in the
southern end of Butler, in the Cranberry area, and was a strong example of
out migration from Allegheny County. Fayette and Greene Counties had gains
of 2.8% and 2.3% respectively. Allegheny lost 4%, but that was half of what
they lost in the 1980's. Beaver and Armstrong lost 2.5% and 1.5%, and
Indiana and Washington Counties each lost less than one percent.
As a region, that in a way is
the most important measurement, our population declined 1.5%. By comparison,
the Commonwealth gained 3% with most of the gain coming in the southeastern
counties that ring Philadelphia and a few northeastern counties. We really
prosper or suffer together, irrespective of political boundaries; and,
relative to the 1980's, it appears the regional decline has leveled off.
For the most part, in
Westmoreland County, the municipalities along the western border with
Allegheny County showed the greatest increases. The smaller industrial
cities and a few rural boroughs showed the largest decreases. Penn Township
grew 22.8%, Murrysville 9.5%, North Huntingdon 3.4%, and Rostraver Township
3.7%. Another of the bigger municipalities that grew 5% was Unity Township.
Most of the growth was in the larger townships, with the only anomaly being
Hempfield Township that lost 4%. That phenomenon was really the greatest
surprise because if one drives through Hempfield, there are so many new
housing developments that it seems unbelievable that the township could have
lost people.
Many people have expressed
surprise that our county's population did not rise during the 1990's. But a
factor that may have offset any positive inward migration was that our
mortality rate exceeded our birth rate for the second half of the 1990's. So
if no one came or left, we would have ended up with less people. With an
older population, reversal of those two rates will be hard. People tend to
have smaller families, and unless that trend changes, growth may difficult
to achieve. Other regions of the United States have experienced much larger
international immigration rates that boost their populations. Also, I
suspect those immigrant families also have more children.
We will get more extensive
data from the 2000 Census in upcoming months. There will be more detailed
economic data and job creation statistics. Considering everything, we've
gone through in our region and our county in the last twenty years, I don't
think that the news is all doom and gloom. Maybe we are never going to grow
the way that places like Florida, Texas, and California are growing.
This region grew in the 20th
century for several reasons. Industrialization attracted large numbers of
immigrants here in the first thirty years of the last century. Then we
experienced the baby boom, and our population grew even more. Neither of
those phenomena is likely to occur again soon. We need to focus on creating
more and better career opportunities to keep our young people here. Perhaps
that will allow us to begin modest growth regionally in the first decade of
the 21st century. It may also keep more people of the childbearing age group
here, and hopefully, in a county like Westmoreland, reverse the birth
rate-mortality rate trends. |
