New population figures announced for Pulaski County cities

Communities across the state have slowly been changing the population figures on their city limit signs. Without much fanfare, the U. S. Census Bureau has supplied the city population information collected during the 2020 census. While Pulaski County registered a modest gain in population since 2010, most counties outside of major population areas registered losses.
To a great extent, the municipal population data was disappointing for most, if not all, communities in Pulaski County. Community leaders in Waynesville and in St. Robert were expecting their populations to exceed 6-thousand per city, and St. Robert was expecting to overtake Waynesville in population, but neither city came close to its hopeful goals. According to the official 2020 data, the population of Waynesville is 5406 and St. Robert is 5192. Richland’s population is listed at 1734, Dixon’s at 1232, and Crocker’s at 929. And, if Fort Leonard Wood is considered a municipality, then it’s the leading city in the county with 15,959 residents. Both Waynesville and St. Robert showed population gains over 2010. Richland, Crocker, and Dixon showed losses from the last census in 2010. Some community leaders believe that a sizable number of military residents living in these communities gave their home communities as their places of residency and not the Pulaski County communities where they resided in 2020. The average age of Fort Wood residents is 20.6 years old. Waynesville’s average age is 28.1 and St. Robert’s is 32.5. This compares to an average age in the state of 38.7 years.