Wyoming

Wyoming Is Growing… Older, Not Faster

Published

2 months ago

January 28, 2026

Wyoming is still gaining residents, but the real story isn’t how many people are moving in — it’s how quickly the state’s population is aging. Births are barely keeping up with deaths, and with fewer young people to replace them, Wyoming is entering a new era where older residents are quietly reshaping the economy, communities, and the future of the state itself.

According to the latest U.S. Census estimates, Wyoming’s population reached about 588,753 in July 2025, an increase of just over 2,000 people from a year earlier. That works out to about 0.3 percent growth — still upward, but slow. And most of that growth is coming from people moving here, not babies being born. Natural growth — the difference between births and deaths — added fewer than 300 people during the year. That reflects years of lower birth rates and a growing number of older residents.

Wyoming’s aging trend is among the fastest in the country.

The number of residents age 65 and older grew at a faster rate than the overall population, making the state’s median age rise more quickly than the national average. Analysts say this is driven by the large baby boomer cohort moving into retirement and by younger generations leaving the state.

Wenlin Liu, chief economist with the state’s Economic Analysis Division, bluntly described the demographic shift: the state’s older population is growing fast, while outmigration of young people and lower birth rates continue to shrink the pool of working-age Wyomingites. That’s already contributing to labor shortages in key sectors.

The trend is real and concerning.

Josh Dorrell, CEO of the Wyoming Business Council, has warned lawmakers that Wyoming faces a “chicken‑and‑egg” problem: there aren’t enough jobs to keep young people here, and without more young people it’s harder to build the kinds of economies that create jobs in the first place. “We don’t have enough people to attract the jobs and we don’t have enough jobs to attract the people,” Dorrell told a legislative committee last summer.

Surveys of Wyoming residents mirror that concern. A recent poll presented to county officials found that most voters want stronger action to grow local economies and create opportunities to keep young people from leaving. Dorrell noted that two out of every three Wyoming‑born adults move away by their mid‑20s, often because they can’t find the jobs they want close to home.

The demographic shift carries consequences beyond just census numbers. An aging population has different needs — more health care services, more senior‑friendly housing, more support systems — while the shrinking share of younger adults can shrink the labor force available for schools, hospitals, factories and small businesses.

Despite the state’s strong job market — with unemployment remaining low — leaders worry about what happens next when more boomers retire and fewer young workers are around to replace them.

Wyoming’s growth story may still be positive on the surface, but the deeper reality is that the Cowboy State is aging faster than it’s growing younger. That shift is already changing communities from Cheyenne to Sheridan, and may have long‑lasting effects on the state’s economy, schools, and way of life in the years ahead.

Big Horn Polo Club Pegasus Cup

The Big Horn Polo club was established in 1898. Today’s match (August 17, 2025) was the Pegasus Polo Cup in the foothills of the Big Horn Mountains. Spectators are encouraged to come to Sunday polo for an afternoon of tailgating! The admission is free! There are bleachers and an announcer for each Sunday game. Concessions are availble for food and drinks.

Gallery Credit: Kolby Fedore, Townsquare Media

Casper College Student Move In Day

Gallery Credit: Kolby Fedore, Townsquare Media

Central Wyoming Rodeo-Wednesday

Gallery Credit: Libby Ngo

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Wyoming

Momentum builds to reform Wyoming Public Records Act

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11 hours ago

March 23, 2026

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Momentum builds to reform Wyoming Public Records Act

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Wyoming

Wyoming Wrestling Finishes 12th at NCAA Championships with Three All-Americans – SweetwaterNOW

Published

23 hours ago

March 22, 2026

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Wyoming Wrestling Finishes 12th at NCAA Championships with Three All-Americans – SweetwaterNOW

CLEVELAND — The University of Wyoming wrestling team capped its 2025-26 season with a 12th-place finish and 38 points at the NCAA Championships inside Rocket Arena, marking the highest NCAA finish in head coach Mark Branch’s 18-year tenure. The Cowboys had three wrestlers earn All-American honors.

“It was a great weekend for the Cowboys,” Branch said. “I couldn’t be more proud of these guys for the way they fought through this incredibly difficult tournament. They handled themselves like champions. It was awesome to be around this, and it was awesome to celebrate this with them. Being an All-American is something they’ll have the rest of their lives, and I know how important that is, how big it is and how hard it is at this level.”

At 197 pounds, No. 5 Joey Novak earned his second consecutive All-American honor with a fourth-place finish. He defeated No. 11 Camden McDanel of Nebraska, 7-3, in the consolation semifinals before falling to No. 3 Stephen Little of Little Rock, 7-4, in the third-place match.

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“He embodies the Cowboy tough mentality,” Branch said. “He loves this program. It’s what you need in this day in age. You need guys like Joey. The leadership that Joey has shown is what we’ve been trying to build.”

At 184 pounds, No. 6 Eddie Neitenbach secured his first All-American recognition with a seventh-place finish. He won his final match via medical forfeit over No. 22 Zack Ryder of Oklahoma State.

“Eddie is awesome,” Branch said. “He came in with the most favorable seeding, meaning I was surprised how high a seed he was. Don’t let that fool you. He’d been hanging around 8/9/10 in all the polls. It wasn’t a given he was going to come in and place. He definitely had to show up, and he put together a heck of a tournament.”

Heavyweight No. 18 Christian Carroll also earned his first All-American honor, finishing eighth. Carroll dropped his final match to No. 10 David Szuba of Arizona State by disqualification.

“Christian was gutsy, and he’s learning a lot about himself,” Branch said. “He certainly was feeling the weight of this tournament on him. After losing that first match, his confidence was shaken a little bit. But he picked it up and battled back and showed a lot of grit there. He showed what he’s about and what he’s capable of. He’s been an awesome addition to our team.”

Elsewhere, Gabe Willochell went 3-2 at 149 pounds, advancing to the blood round, while Luke Willochell (133) and Riley Davis (174) each recorded one win in the tournament.

Penn State won the team title with 181.5 points, followed by Oklahoma State with 131 and Nebraska with 100.5.

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Wyoming

Wyoming’s Turkey Vultures Do Much More Than Hang Around Looking Creepy

Published

1 day ago

March 22, 2026

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Wyoming’s Turkey Vultures Do Much More Than Hang Around Looking Creepy

Many people in Wyoming aren’t terribly fond of turkey vultures. They poop all over trees, barf up “pellets” of leftover gristle and who knows what else, and just hang around looking creepy.

That’s a rush to judgment, vulture advocates say. They admire turkey vultures as a bird that can migrate from Canada all the way to South America and play a vital role in keeping the landscape clear of rotting carcasses.

One of the first signs of spring is vultures showing up in Wyoming, usually in March. They roost by the hundreds on the University of Wyoming campus, in Casper and elsewhere across the state.

They’ll fly out in the morning, usually between dawn and about 8 a.m., and spend the day soaring through the skies, looking for carrion to devour. Then they return in the evening to roost for the night.

Around October, they’ll leave, migrating south for the winter.

Much remains unknown about Wyoming’s turkey vultures. To help find out more, the UW Biodiversity Institute launched the Vulture Watch Wyoming volunteer program in 2024. A vulture-watching training session is set for March 24.

Turkey vultures show up in Casper in March, and stay until October, when they migrate south. (Courtesy: Joanne Theobald)
Every spring, hundreds of turkey vultures show up on the University of Wyoming campus and stay until fall. (Courtesy: Anna Petrey)
Every spring, hundreds of turkey vultures show up on the University of Wyoming campus and stay until fall. (Courtesy: Anna Petrey)

Here Come the UW Vultures

In Laramie, the UW campus is turkey vulture central; there have been as many as 297 of them counted roosting in trees or on buildings, mostly around the Old Main building or in clusters of spruce trees around 15th and Garfield streets.

Vultures seem to like spruce, cottonwood and poplar trees. They don’t seem to care much for pine trees, and nobody is sure why, said Elizabeth Wommack, curator and collection manager of vertebrates at the UW Museum of Vertebrates.

They first started showing up on campus around 2010, she told Cowboy State Daily.

“They sort of used that core group of spruces when they first arrived, and they spread out to other trees,” she said.

Anna Petrey, a Ph.D. student in Clinical Psychology at UW, told Cowboy State Daily that she developed a fascination with turkey vultures after spotting them on campus and joined Vulture Watch Wyoming.

“Vultures are a really precious and interesting bird to me,” she said.

She understands that most people don’t perceive vultures that way.

“I think it’s in part because people do find them to be stinky and gross. But I thought, ‘that can’t be fair, I need to learn more about them,’” she said.

“I think they’re pretty cool-looking; that might be an unpopular opinion,” Petrey added.

Even when there are hundreds of them roosting on campus, it’s easy to miss noticing them.

“They roost up high in trees, and people might not look straight up and see them,” she said.

Vultures are also incredibly quiet, because they basically can’t vocalize, she added.

“The best that they can do is a quiet hiss, and that’s all they can produce,” Petrey said.

Every spring and summer, hundreds of turkey vultures roost in trees on the University of Wyoming campus. (Courtesy: Mason Lee)
Turkey vultures scour the countryside across Wyoming, looking for carrion to eat. (Courtesy: Rena Parsons)
The turkey vulture on the left in this photo is a juvenile, identifiable by its gray head and beak, compared to the red head and white beak of an adult. (Courtesy: Joanne Theobald)

Roosting, Not Nesting

Wommack said that roosting spots are where turkey vultures go to rest and sleep. They don’t nest or raise their young in those places.

Vultures nest in hidden, isolated places, and don’t like their nests being disturbed, she said.

“The nests are hidden, in places like crevices, caves or hollow trees,” she said.

A turkey vulture nest was once discovered in the trunk of an abandoned car in Nebraska, Wommack said.

Juvenile turkey vultures are ready to leave the nest after a few months. They can be identified by their gray heads and dark-colored beaks.

That’s in contrast to the red heads and “bone-white” beaks of adults, Wommack said.

It’s uncertain just how many turkey vultures spend the spring, summer and early fall in Wyoming, she added.

That’s one of the mysteries that she hopes the Vulture Watch Wyoming program will help unravel, she said.

“It’s one of those common avian species that we sometimes take for granted,” she said.

“We decided that reaching out to the community and asking the community to help would be the best way to find out more about them,” Wommack added.

Turkey vultures show up in Casper in March, and stay until October, when they migrate south. (Courtesy: Joanne Theobald)
Turkey vulture have warts on their faces, called crunkles. (Courtesy: Joanne Theobald)

Nature’s Clean-Up Crew

Vultures are designed to consume dead animals, particularly in warm weather, Wommack said.

“They don’t have the same equipment that eagles do,” such as huge claws and sharp, curved beaks for catching prey and killing it, she said.

Those same features allow eagles to turn to scavenging during the winter, because they can rip into frozen carcasses.

Vultures, on the other hand, require softer carcasses that have started to rot a little, which is why they show up to scout the Wyoming landscape during the warmer months.

Vultures search for food by soaring at high altitudes. As one might expect, they have excellent eyesight for spotting dead animals below, Wommack said.

They also have an incredible sense of smell, which helps them find rotting carcasses from great distances, she added.

In Wyoming and across the Great Plains region, turkey vultures don’t have much direct competition.

Farther east or west, they must contend with black vultures or California condors, both of which are bigger and will bully turkey vultures off carcasses.

Adult turkey vultures weigh about four pounds on average and have wingspans of 4½ to 6 feet.

“They have about the same wingspan as golden eagles, but they weigh much less than golden eagles,” Wommack said.

There are written records of turkey vultures in Wyoming going back to the 19th century, she said.

Turkey vulture have warts on their faces, called crunkles. (Courtesy: Joanne Theobald)

‘Crunkles’ in Casper

Multitudes of turkey vultures roost in trees in Casper, said resident Joanne Theobald, a Vulture Watch Wyoming volunteer.

“I’m lucky enough to live in a tree neighborhood in Casper. So we’re lucky enough to have roosting vultures, including one right outside my window, in my neighbor’s tree. So I get the view without the mess,” she said.

Though vulture poop is remarkably clean, it builds up over time, so she understands why homeowners with trees get fed up with it.

“They also throw these pellets; they barf them up. And then there’s the feathers too,” she said.

“People just kind of develop this idea that vultures are dirty, or that they mean death, or they’re going to carry off your small animals,” Theobald said.

“People think they’re creepy, because they’re ugly, but that’s not their fault,” she added.

In addition to their bald heads, vultures develop white facial warts, called “crunkles,” she said.

That might make them even less visually appealing to some, but Theobald said she wonders if the differing number of crunkles on vultures’ faces could help identify individual birds.

Theobald hosts presentations to educate people about vultures and dispel some of the negative impressions about them.

And she thinks Wyoming makes a great place for turkey vultures to come hang out during the warm months.

“If I were a vulture, I would love Wyoming. It’s windy here and they just love to ride the thermals. And there’s wide open spaces with lots of things just dying of natural causes,” she said.

Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.

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