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3:35 PM: Analysis: Data Shows County Population Continues Slide

FILE - This March 23, 2018 file photo shows an envelope containing a 2018 census letter mailed to a resident in Providence, R.I., as part of the nation's only test run of the 2020 Census. . (AP Photo/Michelle R. Smith)

Chautauqua County’s population continues to erode, according to recently released U.S. Census Bureau statistics.

Is it taxes? Is it lack of opportunity?

Are Chautauqua County residents just not as nice as we think we are?

Can we not attract people here because of the weather — a factor that can’t be discounted as winter refuses to relinquish its icy grip?

There are many factors, and they all contribute to the fact the county has lost another 5,859 residents, or 4.34 percent of its population, from the time the 2010 U.S. Census was released through July 1, 2017. The county’s percentage of residents lost was the sixth-highest percentage of population lost among the state’s 57 non-New York City counties; and only Broome County’s population decrease of 6,961 was more than Chautauqua County’s 5,859.

Twelve counties saw population gains over the past seven years: Rockland (5.51 percent), Saratoga (4.67 percent), Westchester (3.28 percent), Tompkins (3.19 percent), Orange (2.52 percent), Nassau (2.24 percent), Ontario (1.82 percent), Albany (1.78 percent), Erie (0.71 percent), Schenectady (0.54 percent), Monroe (0.44 percent) and Rensselaer (0.18 percent). All 12 counties saw major gains in international migration to make up for either slight declines or modest gains in domestic migration.

See tomorrow’s edition of The Sunday Post-Journal for complete coverage.

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