Shelby County population decline continues

    COUNTY -- Shelby County has lost 539 residents since 2010, according to population estimates from the U.S. Census and released by the Iowa State Data Center.
    The population decrease in the last seven years has been steady and increasing.  The loss since 2010 amounts to 4.4 percent of the county’s population.
    The population trend is similar in most surrounding rural counties, who also have lost population from 2.4 percent to 8.8 percent over the past seven years.  Only Pottawattamie County has seen an uptick in population.  Audubon County has seen the highest loss in population while Crawford County has seen the lowest loss of area rural counties.