Population continues to drop

County has 2.1 percent fewer residents since 2010 Census

Rappahannock County’s population in 2018 was estimated at 7,219 — 69 fewer residents than in 2017, when the population is believed to have stood at 7,288.

When the U.S. Census was last conducted in 2010, Rappahannock County’s population stood at 7,373. Since then — through July 1, 2018 — it has fallen by an estimated 154 people, or 2.1 percent.

That according to the Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service at the University of Virginia, where each year demographers develop official population estimates for Virginia and its counties and cities to illuminate popula-

tion counts between decennial censuses.

These estimates provide the best approximation of the population count on July 1 of the previous year, in this case 2018.

Next year, when the U.S. Census Bureau comes back for its 2020 head count, the Weldon Center predicts Rappahannock’s population will have grown by 17 people, to an estimated 7,236 residents. That is still 137 fewer people than were living in the county in 2010.

And beyond that?

The center predicts that in 2030, there will be 7,401 people living in Rappahannock, just slightly above the 2010 count of 7,373. And in 2040, it predicts 7,460 citizens will call Rappahannock home — 241 more people than are estimated to be living here today.