Growth and Rural Flight
| Historical populations | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Census | Pop. | %± | |
| 1860 | 4,837 |
|
|
| 1870 | 11,776 | 143.5% | |
| 1880 | 98,268 | 734.5% | |
| 1890 | 348,600 | 254.7% | |
| 1900 | 401,570 | 15.2% | |
| 1910 | 583,888 | 45.4% | |
| 1920 | 636,547 | 9.0% | |
| 1930 | 692,849 | 8.8% | |
| 1940 | 642,961 | −7.2% | |
| 1950 | 652,740 | 1.5% | |
| 1960 | 680,514 | 4.3% | |
| 1970 | 665,507 | −2.2% | |
| 1980 | 690,768 | 3.8% | |
| 1990 | 696,004 | 0.8% | |
| 2000 | 754,844 | 8.5% | |
| Est. 2008 | 804,194 | ||
South Dakota, in common with five other Midwest states (Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, North Dakota, and Iowa), is experiencing a trend of falling populations in rural counties, despite an overall increase in population for all of these states except North Dakota. 89% of the total number of cities in these six states have fewer than 3,000 people; hundreds have fewer than 1000. Between 1996 and 2004, almost half a million people, nearly half with college degrees, left the six states. "Rural flight" as it is called has led to offers of free land and tax breaks as enticements to newcomers.
The effect of rural flight has not been spread evenly through South Dakota, however. Although most rural counties and small towns have lost population, the Sioux Falls area and the Black Hills have gained population. In fact, Lincoln County, near Sioux Falls, is the ninth-fastest growing county (by percentage) in the United States. The growth in these areas has compensated for losses in the rest of the state, and South Dakota's total population continues to increase steadily, albeit at a slower rate than the national average.
Read more about this topic: Demographics Of South Dakota
Famous quotes containing the words growth, rural and/or flight:
“Every child has an inner timetable for growth—a pattern unique to him. . . . Growth is not steady, forward, upward progression. It is instead a switchback trail; three steps forward, two back, one around the bushes, and a few simply standing, before another forward leap.”
—Dorothy Corkville Briggs (20th century)
“We realize that we are laggards from the past century, still living in what Marx kindly calls ‘the idiocy of rural life,’ and we know that our rural life is like that of the past, not like that of much of the present.”
—For the State of Vermont, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)
“When we are high and airy hundreds say
That if we hold that flight they’ll leave the place,
While those same hundreds mock another day
Because we have made our art of common things ...”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)