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Demographics of Converse County
Affluence Level in Converse County
A middle-class area roughly in line with national averages across income, home values, education, and employment.
People of Converse County
The people of Converse County, Wyoming today number 13,759, a population that is 88.2% white and 8.1% Hispanic, with a foreign-born share of just 1.1%—one of the lowest in the nation. This is a rural, sparsely populated county where the largest town, Douglas, serves as the county seat and economic hub, with smaller communities like Glenrock, Lost Springs, and Rolling Hills dotting the landscape. The county’s identity is rooted in ranching, energy extraction, and a strong sense of self-reliance, with a college-educated rate of 22.9% reflecting a workforce oriented toward trades and resource industries rather than white-collar professions. For a conservative-leaning audience, Converse County represents a place where traditional values and a slow pace of life remain intact, though demographic shifts are beginning to stir.
Settlement & growth (pre-1960)
Before European contact, the area now known as Converse County was part of the traditional territory of the Plains Indians, primarily the Lakota (Sioux), Cheyenne, and Arapaho nations. These nomadic groups followed the vast bison herds across the high plains, leaving little permanent settlement but a deep cultural imprint on the land. The first Europeans to pass through were French fur trappers and traders in the early 1800s, followed by American explorers like John C. Frémont in the 1840s, but no permanent non-Native settlements took hold until after the U.S. government forcibly removed Native tribes to reservations following the Indian Wars of the 1860s and 1870s.
The first major wave of American settlers arrived in the 1880s, drawn by the expansion of the Fremont, Elkhorn & Missouri Valley Railroad (later part of the Chicago & North Western). The railroad reached the area in 1886, and the town of Douglas was founded that same year, named after Stephen A. Douglas. These early settlers were overwhelmingly white, native-born Americans from the Midwest and Great Lakes states—farmers, ranchers, and railroad workers seeking cheap land under the Homestead Act. The town of Glenrock followed in 1888, originally a coal mining camp that later became a railroad and ranching center. Smaller settlements like Lost Springs (founded 1886) and Rolling Hills (platted 1910) emerged as agricultural service centers, with Lost Springs famously claiming the title of the smallest incorporated town in Wyoming.
By the early 1900s, the county’s economy diversified beyond ranching into coal mining and oil extraction. The discovery of oil in the Salt Creek Field in neighboring Natrona County in the 1910s spurred a boom that spilled into Converse County, with Douglas becoming a supply and service hub. A small number of European immigrants—mostly Germans, Scandinavians, and Irish—arrived during this period to work in the mines and on the railroads, but the county remained overwhelmingly native-born white. The Dust Bowl of the 1930s brought a trickle of displaced farmers from Oklahoma and Texas, but Converse County’s population actually declined during the Depression as drought and economic hardship drove people away. By 1960, the county’s population stood at roughly 6,000, still predominantly white and rural, with Douglas and Glenrock as the only towns of any size.
Modern era (post-1965)
The 1965 Hart-Cellar Act, which dramatically reshaped U.S. immigration, had virtually no effect on Converse County. The county’s foreign-born population today is just 1.1%, and the vast majority of those are from Canada or Europe, not from the new immigrant streams that transformed urban America. Instead, the county’s modern demographic story is one of domestic migration and energy booms. The oil crisis of the 1970s triggered a surge in drilling activity across Wyoming’s Powder River Basin, and Converse County saw an influx of workers from Texas, Oklahoma, and other oil-producing states. These new arrivals were overwhelmingly white and conservative, reinforcing the county’s existing cultural character. The population grew from 6,000 in 1960 to nearly 12,000 by 1980, then stabilized as oil prices collapsed in the mid-1980s.
The Hispanic population, now 8.1%, began to grow in the 1990s and 2000s, driven by labor demand in the energy sector, construction, and agriculture. These workers—primarily of Mexican origin—settled mainly in Douglas and Glenrock, where they found employment in oil fields, wind farm construction, and meatpacking. However, the Hispanic community remains relatively small and dispersed, with no concentrated ethnic enclaves. The Black population is negligible at 0.2%, and East/Southeast Asian and Indian-subcontinent populations are effectively zero. The county has seen no significant suburbanization; the towns of Douglas and Glenrock remain compact, and new housing developments have been modest, mostly catering to energy workers and retirees.
The 2010s brought a new energy boom—this time in wind power. Converse County is now home to several large wind farms, including the Chokecherry and Sierra Madre project, one of the largest in North America. This has attracted a small number of technicians and engineers, but the workforce remains predominantly local and white. The county’s population has grown slowly but steadily, from 13,833 in 2010 to 13,759 in 2020, a slight decline that reflects the cyclical nature of energy employment and the outmigration of young adults seeking broader opportunities.
The future
Converse County’s population is projected to remain stable or grow modestly over the next 10-20 years, driven by continued energy development (both oil and wind) and the potential for carbon capture and other emerging industries. The county is not becoming more diverse in any meaningful sense; the Hispanic share may inch up to 10-12% as families of energy workers settle, but the county will remain overwhelmingly white. The foreign-born share will likely stay below 2%, as there are no economic or social pull factors for international immigrants. The college-educated rate may rise slowly as wind and tech-related jobs require more training, but the county will remain a place where high school diplomas and trade certifications are the norm.
The cultural identity of Converse County is likely to hold steady: conservative, rural, and resource-dependent. The biggest demographic challenge is outmigration of young people, who often leave for college or jobs in larger cities and do not return. This is a common pattern across rural Wyoming, and it means the county’s population is aging. The median age in Converse County is 42.5, slightly above the national average. To retain families, the county will need to invest in schools, broadband, and amenities that make it attractive to the next generation.
For someone moving in now, Converse County offers a stable, predictable community where the population is homogeneous, the economy is tied to the land and energy, and the pace of life is slow. It is not a place of rapid demographic change or cultural flux. The people who thrive here are those who value self-sufficiency, outdoor recreation, and a tight-knit social fabric. The county’s future is one of continuity, not transformation—a place where the past and present look much alike, and where the next decade will likely resemble the last.
* Values derived from national, state, county, city and local statistics and may differ in a specific area. Last updated: 2026-07-13T18:43:46.000Z
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