Did you know there are over 150 different community indicators on Grant County Trends - each updated throughout the year? But which ones, and when?
This issue of the Grant County Trends Blog lists the most recently updated indicators on the Grant County Trends website.
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Recent Updates
In PEOPLE:
Population in the county grew last year, but not at the same rapid pace as before.
And the results are in! State demographers estimate that the county added 950 residents between April 1 2024 and April 1 of this year. Moses Lake added about 450 over the same interval.
Yet, by recent standards, the county slipped. The average annual growth rate during the 5-year period preceding was 1.3%. The past year: 0.9% The same was true for Moses Lake, as its population increased by 1.7% last year. This lay below the prior 5-year average of 2.2% annual growth.
In recent years, Grant County’s population has edged up a bit faster than that of the state. The growth rate in Moses Lake, however, has been much higher than that of the state.
Net migration was not as important as births to explain county population growth.
In contrast to the immediate prior years, net migration was not the major factor behind the county’s gain of 950 residents over the past year (April to April). The calculations from state demographers put the number at 157. This implies that it was the “natural increase,” births – deaths, that provided the gain.
Compare this result to the prior year, when an estimated 1,465 new county residents were attributed to net in-migration.
In AGRICULTURE:
Corn produced for grain, a major county crop, continues to decline.
Corn production for grain has been in the mix of crops in Grant County for years. Currently, however, it is on a decline. In 2024, total production amounted to about 180,000 tons. In 2011, the total was nearly double, at 348,000 tons. The decline over that period has been relatively steep.
In 2022, the most recent year of the U.S. Census of Agriculture, the crop’s value amounted to about $78 million. Total value of production in the county that year was estimated at $2 billion.
In ECONOMIC VITALITY:
Per capita personal income (PCPI) accelerated during the pandemic but has recently slowed.
PCPI is one of the two standard measures of personal income; the other is median household income. Both serve to gauge economic progress. The composition of the two measures, however, differs significantly. PCPI is an average, taken over the entire population, including those not working (students, retirees, the disabled). Median household income is first, a different calculation of the “middle” than PCPI and second, allows more than one earner in a household, or family.
In 2023, per capita personal income in Grant County was about $49,200. After rising quickly immediately before the pandemic, the growth in PCPI here has leveled out since 2021. (Numbers for 2024 will be out in November.)
The recent experience of PCPI values here does not correspond to those of the U.S. or the state average, as the graph reveals. In 2023, U.S. per capita personal income was $69,800 while the state average was $80,900. As shares, Grant County’s PCPI in 2023 was 71% and 61% of the values for the U.S. and Washington, respectively.
Jobs creation was weak in the county in 2024.
Another fundamental measure of the success of any economy is job growth. This indicator looks at the net change over a 12-month period. Consequently, it incorporates both new jobs and lost jobs due to business closures or downsizing.
As the graph clearly shows, gains in the number of jobs were paltry in 2024. They amounted to 481. This is the lowest result since pandemic year 2020, when the gain was negative.
In EDUCATION:
The extended high school graduation rate in the county is still below the state average.
The standard measure for tracking progress of K-12 students receiving a diploma is the 4-year, or on-time, graduation rate. The extended measure gives students another year to complete their requirements for graduation; it is the sum of the on-time rate plus the share of continuing senior who meet graduation requirements in that extra year. As such, the 5-year rate will typically be higher than the 4-year rate.
For the 5-year group of graduates among all K-12 districts in the county in school year 2023-2024, the extended rate was about 83%. For the same cohort, the share graduating the year prior was 81%. Consequently, the gain to the cohort’s success in graduating from high school was about two percentage points.
Note that the graduation rate for the extended cohort over all Grant County school districts has been below the Washington average for the past four years.
In ENVIRONMENT AND LAND USE:
Shares of electricity produced by type point to hydropower dominance.
Grant County’s power formerly came from several sources. But no longer. For the last several years, hydropower has had nearly a complete lock on the sources of electricity generation, as the graph reveals.
In the prior decade, however, both coal and natural gas played significant roles in the county’s electricity generation. Most recently (2023), they are absent, replaced by wind, in a distant second place.
In HEALTH:
Nearly one out six residents claim some disability.
Disability can come in many forms: physical, cognitive, mental. The rate rises rapidly among older adults.
For 2023, Census estimated that about 16,700 residents in Grant County were disabled. This is the highest number on record. The rate, compared to the total population, was about 16%, also the highest on record. For much of the period since 2008, the local rate was below the rates of the U.S. and the state.
In HOUSING:
The rental market remains tight in Grant County.
Rental vacancy rates offer one of the better windows into the state of a housing market. (Others include rent, median housing price, number of homes on the market.) This is an annual estimate provided by the U.S. Census. Their latest covers 2023; rates for 2024 will be out in September. Generally, a 5% vacancy rate is considered a market equilibrium rate, where supply matches demand, considering the “friction” component of people moving or new supply coming online.
The 2023 average for Grant County showed a rate of 3%. The pandemic and post-pandemic years shown have yielded much lower vacancy rates than prior to the pandemic, as the graph readily shows.
In PUBLIC SAFETY:
A bedrock notion of a successful society or community is a guarantee of personal safety. A resident should expect to be free of fear of crimes against one’s person. Consequently, violent crime rates are typically in the mix of evaluating the desirability of a community. Following the FBI definition, violent crimes in this indicator are: aggravated assaults, robberies, rapes and murders.
The total in 2023 in Grant County was 276, with the vast majority consisting of aggravated assaults. The rate, at 2.7 per 1,000 residents, was higher than in 2018 (2.2) but considerably lower than at the turn of the century (3.6). In the past few years, the violent crime in the county has been above the U.S. rate but below the state rate.
updated 07.16.25
New Intern Features
Mason Moore
Hometown:
Wenatchee, Washington
Major:
Information Systems & Business Analytics, Finance
Expected Graduation Date:
Fall 2025
Post-graduations plans:
Attend graduate school and get a good job!
After a few months of working on the Trends project, my favorite thing so far:
I really enjoy the process of troubleshooting and working through the puzzles that come with data analysis, no two indicators are ever the same, and that keeps things interesting and engaging. I’ve also really appreciated the opportunity to work with such a thoughtful and collaborative team. The people I get to work with make the experience even more rewarding.
Matthew Sandell
Hometown:
Bremerton, WA
Major:
Double-majoring in Economics and Data Analytics
Post-graduation plans:
Get a job involved with economic development and/or public policy, either local or international.
After a few months of working on the Trends project, my favorite thing so far:
There are so many different puzzles to solve. My favorite part of the Trends project is rebuilding or creating new datasets. Often, we have to make judgement calls on what data is important and how to present that data. Fundamentally, we're here to tell a story, and I love finding the most efficient way to achieve that through thoughtful and creative data organization.