I got to visit my friends at Kiwanis today and talk about Census 2010 results. Locally, our county seat town grew slightly from 2000, while our county contracted slightly as did the regional overall. The Micropolitan centers of Worthington and Marshall led growth in our area, both overall and in minority (particularly Hispanic) population growth.
Looking beyond ethnicity, Southwest Minnesota is leading the state and nation with the megatrend of aging populations as the baby boomers reach retirement age. In Minnesota, the median age is 37.4 years. In Murray County the median age is 46.8. The share of population below age 18 is about the same in the county and state. The share of retirement-age population is twice as large in Murray County as in Minnesota overall.