Census: Findlay population declines

Findlay's population declined by 2% and Hancock County's rose 0.2% during the past decade, the U.S. Census Bureau reported. The city's population was 40,313 in April 2020, or 889 less than in 2010, according to the Census Bureau. Hancock County's population reached 74,920, or 138 more residents than in 2010. Findlay Mayor Christina Muryn disputed the Census Bureau's figure for Findlay in 2020: She said her information indicates that Findlay's 2020 population was 40,832. "I'm disappointed to see the city of Findlay numbers going down," the mayor said Monday. She said that coupled with the population increase in Hancock County, the numbers reflect where the growth has been occurring in recent years. "We've really seen it in the townships surrounding the city of Findlay with especially the housing developments that have occurred over the last 10 years," Muryn said. "As a county we're still continuing to grow, which is beneficial." Muryn said she looks forward to seeing further details from the Census Bureau, on things like business growth, in the coming weeks. A population increase is better than a decline, said Hancock County Commissioner William Bateson. "I guess I am a little surprised that the growth is going to hold steady," he said. The pandemic, which increased people's ability to work from home, probably will dampen local prospects for population growth for a few years, Bateson said. "Some of the more technical jobs are people that maybe want to more stay in a metropolitan area, but they still can be hired by businesses that work in the county," he said. "I can see some of that reasoning to stay true. The flexibility of stay-at-home jobs, I think, will play a factor." He said that rural residents are having fewer babies than their urban counterparts. "People on the rural side of America are having less children," Bateson said. "Urban areas are growing a little more than rural areas based on the birth records." Wilin: 419-427-8413