According to the final results from the 2010 Census, the population of Windham County has gotten a little bit bigger in the past decade, but the overall rate of growth has been negligible.
Recently released data from the U.S. Census Bureau showed Windham County had 44,513 residents as of April 1, 2010, compared to 42,216 in 2000.
That's a growth rate of around 1 percent.
According to data on the Census Bureau's website, Brattleboro gained 41 residents in the 2010 Census, and now has 12,046 people.
The fastest growing town in Windham County is Stratton, which added 80 residents in 2010 for a 59 percent growth rate, from 136 to 216 people.
Athens grew by 30 percent, going from 340 to 442 residents. Windham added 91 people in growing from 328 to 419 residents, a 28 percent jump.
Other towns that saw double-digit growth included Brookline (13 percent, from 467 to 530) and Marlboro (10 percent, from 978 to 1,078).
The fastest shrinking town is Somerset, which went from 5 to 3 residents in 2010, a 40 percent drop.
Dover lost 20 percent of its population, going from 1,410 to 1,124 residents, while Wilmington was not far behind with a 16 percent drop, going from 2,225 to 1,876 people.
Other towns that reported losses in population included Dummerston (3 percent, from 1,915 to 1,864), Halifax (7 percent, from 782 to 728), Rockingham (1 percent, from 5,309 to 5,282), and Westminster (1 percent, from 3,210 to 3,178).
Grafton, Guilford, Jamaica, Londonderry, Newfane, Putney, Townshend, Vernon, Wardsboro, and Whitingham all saw population increases in the 3 percent to 7 percent range.
The largest county in Vermont remains Chittenden, with a population of 156,545. Its population grew by 6.8 percent since 2000. The other counties in the top five include Rutland with a population of 61,642 (a decrease of 2.8 percent); Washington, 59,534 (a increase of 2.6 percent); Windsor, 56,670 (a decrease of 1.3 percent); and Franklin, 47,746 (an increase of 5.1 percent).
Vermont's five most populous cities and towns, according to the 2010 Census counts, are Burlington, 42,417; Essex, 19,587; South Burlington, 17,904; Colchester, 17,067; and Rutland, 16,495.
Burlington has grown by 9.1 percent since the 2000 Census. Essex grew by 5.2 percent, South Burlington grew by 13.2 percent, Colchester grew by 0.5 percent, and Rutland's population decreased by 4.6 percent.
The state's population as a whole grew from 608,827 in 2000 to 625,741 in 2010. According to the Center for Rural Studies (CRS) at the University of Vermont, the 2.8 percent growth rate between 2000 and 2010 was the state's lowest since the 1940 Census, when the state reported a minus 0.1 percent growth rate.
By comparison, the average decennial growth rate between 1960 and 1990 was 14.8 percent, and the rate of growth between 1990 and 2000 was 8.2 percent.
“It is likely that the state-to-state migration that has been adding noticeably to Vermont's population since 1960 is beginning to ebb,” wrote Will “Chip” Sawyer, CRS' state data manager, in December.
Sawyer will be coming to Brooks Memorial Library on Feb. 23, from 2-4 p.m., to present an interactive presentation on the demographic and economic aspects of the 2010 Census data. The snow date is Feb. 25.
Vermont remains the second smallest state in the nation (behind Wyoming, with 563,626 people) and ranked 44th in the rate of growth between 2000 and 2010.
Other noteworthy findings about Vermont from the 2010 Census:
• The state is becoming more diverse. The percentage of Vermont's population that is non-Hispanic white has dropped to 94 percent, and the African-American population has doubled.
• The state is growing older. Despite overall population growth, there are 18,000 fewer Vermonters under the age of 17 than there were in 2000.
Vermont was one of the first states in the nation to receive more detailed population and demographic data from the Census Bureau. Every state is expected to receive this data by April 1.