Westmoreland County — Westmoreland County had the seventh-largest natural population decline last year compared to counties across the country, according to population estimates from the census.
The estimates show Westmoreland lost 1,943 people in 2020 through natural population changes, meaning there were more deaths than births.
“The description of what’s happening in Westmoreland County … is what we would call aging in place,” said Chris Briem, a regional economist for the University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Social and Urban Research. “They’ve gotten older, but it’s the people who have always been there that stay.”
The trend is not new, as the county has posted some of the largest natural population declines in the country for most of the decade.
In that time, Westmoreland saw populations decline by 14,861 people through natural means. By 2019, people over the age of 65 made up 22% of the population. The median age for the county also rose from 44 in 2010 to 47 in 2019. That’s compared to the national median age of 38.5 in 2019.
TRENDING NOW:
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/XCUXZC2XYZHCRGNNGKFEX6U3LQ.png)
