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Whitman County is home to some of the richest soil in the nation, a wealth of talent and innovative research originating from Washington State University in Pullman and a thriving manufacturing industry that has become an engine of growth for the regional economy. Its signature rolling hills…

Blog

Throughout the year, each of the approximately 85 indicators on the Trends website are updated within a few weeks of new data becoming available. But, which ones and when? Our blog webpage provides the answers with a list of recently updated indicators - check it out

About Us

The Port of Whitman County created Whitman County Trends as part of its effort to further local economic and community development efforts across the Palouse. The Port was appointed by Whitman County in 2023 to serve as the County's Associate Development Organization (ADO) for two years. ADOs partner with the Washington State Department of Commerce, gathering data and reporting on economic activity within their county.

Whitman County Trends seeks to improve local, public decision making by providing relevant data in an easily navigable website. The data provided on this website is offered as neutral information. More specifically, the goals are:

• To compile and disseminate a broad set of measures to support informed decision making by individual community members, governmental policy makers, non-governmental organizations, businesses, researchers and the press.

Featured Trend

Total Population and Annual Growth Rate: Population growth reveals much about a community. Popular communities experience high rates of growth, bringing wanted economic benefits. In many cases, however, growth can also lead to concerns over traffic, the environment, and essential services such as education. Locations experiencing slow rates of population growth, or even depopulation, may face fiscal difficulties and a downward spiral of further population loss, especially of their youth.

Population growth comes from two sources: the "natural" growth of births outpacing deaths as well as net in-migration. In general, annual estimates are based on the most recent decennial Census (in this case, the 2020 Census). Since these are estimates, and not actual counts, there is room for some error, although the methods used are standardized and tested to reduce the size of the error.