WATONGA – The Blaine County population dropped 27% between 2010 and 2020, according to Census data released earlier this month, a percentage decline greater than any other throughout the state.
The overall Oklahoma population increased during the decade by about 200,000 residents, the Census showed, but much of that growth was concentrated in urban Oklahoma. More than half of Oklahoma counties saw population declines.
The biggest culprit for Blaine County’s fall is likely the closure of the Diamondback Correctional Facility in Watonga, which was shuttered shortly after the Census count in 2010. The Census is a snapshot of the population on April 1 on the first year of each new decade, and prisoners are considered residents of the city where the prison is located.
The nearby town of Hinton experienced a similar phenomenon this year, when its population was boosted by the Great Plains Correctional Facility even though that prison lost all its inmates in 2021.
The latest round of Census data will be used for Congressional redistricting. Oklahoma’s five House districts will be reconfigured so that each has a roughly equal population.
Blaine County has been part of Oklahoma’s 3rd Congressional District since the realignment that followed the 2000 Census.
Blaine County’s population of 8,735 is now 74% white, down from 79.7% in 2010. The percentage of Blaine County residents who identify as two or more races jumped from 3.8% in 2010 to 10.4% in 2020.
The population of the city of Watonga was 2,690 at the 2020 Census, down from a prison-boosted 5,111 people in 2010. Watonga is 59% white, 8.3% Black, 9.9% American Indian, and 17.7% Hispanic or Latino. Almost 15% of Watonga residents identify is being two or more races.
The population of the city of Geary declined to 994 from 1,280 in 2010, a decline of more than 22%. Geary is 60.3% white, 1.4% Black, 19.8% American Indian, and 11.4% Hispanic or Latino. The American Indian population in Geary declined nearly 39% during the decade, but the number of residents who identify as being two or more races jumped from 6.5% to 14.1% of the population.