28 April 2021 — 0754 mdt
1970–2020 Census and Intercensal Populations
for Montana and Montana Counties
On Monday, 26 April, the U.S. Census Bureau released the 2020 apportionment and resident populations for the United States. The 2020 populations for counties were not released, and may not be available until August or September.
Therefore, I estimated the 2020 populations for Montana’s counties using the formula 2020 = 2019 * (2019/2018), and rounded the result to the nearest hundred.
I added those values to my spreadsheet of Montana county census and intercensal populations for 1970–2019.
Governments, and most likely private organizations doing business with governments, must, I believe, use the Census Bureau’s 2019 intercensal numbers. The rest of us, if we prefer, can use the 2020 estimate, which may make a small, but significant, difference for Flathead and Gallatin Counties, Montana’s fastest growing large counties.