Jay down 3.6%

Jay County’s population is continuing to drop.

Data released Thursday by the U.S. Census Bureau showed Jay County’s population dropped by 3.6% between 2010 and 2020. Meanwhile, Portland’s population increased slightly.

The 2020 census numbers showed Jay County had a total population of 20,478 in 2020. That’s down by 775 from 20,478 in 2010.

It was the second-largest percentage decrease for the county’s population since 1930. The only larger drop came between 1980 and 1990, when its population fell to 21,512 from 23,239 (a drop of 7.4%).

While most of the county saw its numbers go down, Portland recorded a population increase of 1.6%. Its total went up by 97 residents to a total of 6,320.

Jay County’s decrease mirrored a state and national trend of declining populations in rural areas. Indiana’s population as a whole went up 4.7% to 6.79 million, but more than half of its counties lost population.



County comparisons

The 2020 census numbers rank Jay County 71st out of Indiana’s 92 counties in terms of population, slightly behind Fulton County (20,480) and ahead of Carroll County (20,306). Marion County (Indianapolis) is the state’s most populous county at 977,203 while Ohio County is the smallest at just 5,940.

Jay County is also second-smallest in the region, only ranking ahead of Blackford County — eighth smallest in the state — with its population of 12,112. Delaware County, ranking 16th in the state with 111,903 residents, was largest in the area followed by Adams (35,809), Wells (28,180) and Randolph (24,502) counties. Mercer and Darke counties in Ohio had populations of 42,528 and 51,881, respectively.

Adams and Wells counties, which saw their populations increase by 4.1% and 2%, respectively, in the last 10 years were the only Indiana counties in the region to attract more residents to the area. Randolph County had the highest rate of population loss over the last decade at 6.4% — it had nearly 26,200 residents in 2010 — while Blackford County’s population declined by 5.1% and Delaware’s County’s went down by 4.9%. Mercer County’s population increased by 4.2% while Darke County’s went down by 2%.



Municipality comparisons

Like counties, it was a mixed bag in terms of population for municipalities in the area.

Redkey was the only municipality in Jay County other than Portland to see a population increase in the last decade. Its number went up by 9.2% to 1,490. (Census data was not available for cities and towns with a population of 5,000 or fewer. Numbers the Census Bureau provides for those municipalities are based on the American Community Survey.)

Populations for other cities and towns in Jay County are:

Bryant — 177 in 2020, down 41% from 300 in 2010

Dunkirk — 2,022, down 17% from 2,437

Pennville — 724, down 1.9% from 738

Salamonia — 147, down 6.4% from 157

Fort Recovery (up 6.7% to 1,526) and Geneva (up 1.5% to 1,312) both increased their populations in the last decade. Ridgeville was part of the heavy decline in Randolph County as its population fell to 544, a drop of 32.2%.

It was a mixed bag for the largest cities in counties adjacent to Jay, as Bluffton, Decatur and Celina, Ohio, all saw population increases. Meanwhile, Muncie, Winchester, Hartford City and Greenville, Ohio, had population declines.

Decatur recorded the largest percentage increase in the area, gaining 5.4% over the last decade to a total of 9,913. Celina saw its population go up by 5.1% to 10,935, and Bluffton recorded an increase of 4.2% to 10,308.

Muncie lost nearly 5,000 residents in the last 10 years, a decline of nearly 7% to a total of 65,194. Winchester lost nearly 200 residents for a drop of almost 4% to 4,739, and Hartford City’s population went down by 2.2% to 6,086. Greenville had a population drop of 3.3% to a total of 12,786.



Demographics

Census data break down various other demographics, including age, race/origin, poverty rate and income.

Jay County’s population skews older than the state average with 18.5% of its residents 65 and older compared to 16.1% for Indiana. It comes in at 25.2% for residents younger than 18, also higher than the state average of 23.3%.

The county continues to be predominantly white — 94.6% — though that number is down by 2.4 percentage points from 2010. Census data show 3.2% of residents are of Hispanic or Latino origin (up 0.5 percentage points), 1.2% indicate two or more races, 0.5% are Black and 0.4% are Asian.

Portland’s number is in line with the county for residents 65 and older while its share of those younger than 18 (23.9%) is more than a percentage point lower. The city is slightly more diverse than the county as a whole, with 89.2% identifying as white (down from 94.5% in the 2010 census). Data show 5.7% of its residents are of Hispanic or Latino origin, 2.2% report two or more races, 2.2% are Asian (up 1.7 percentage points) and 0.9% are Black (up 0.5 percentage points).

Both Jay County (12.5%) and Portland (15.5%) have higher poverty rates than the state average of 11.9%. Only 7.9% of Portland residents and 11.4% of Jay County residents have a bachelor’s degree or higher, well below the state average of 26.5%.

The median household income is $38,281 in Portland and $47,658 in Jay.