Hometown Folks
There’s something great about Iowa’s rural areas—you have to have lived there at least two, and preferably three, generations before you are considered to be a “local”.
I think of people who moved into my hometown to take over a local business; they’ve been there for more than 40 years, and I still think of them as the “new” folks…because I knew the folks who ran the business before them. I’ve lived in this part of the state for nearly 25 years, but I still don’t feel like I’m “from” here…but I am most certainly still an Iowan through and through.
Thanks to some unique crunching of 2020 Census data, the folks at Stacker have compiled a list of the counties in Iowa with the most born-and-bred residents—folks who live in the county, and were born and raised in the state.
By that measure, Delaware County is the most Iowan of all 99 counties…90.4 percent of the current population was born in Iowa. Buchanan County takes the second spot, with a percentage of 87.4 percent born here. Look a bit to the west, and you’ll find Butler County in third, with 86.6 percent native population.
Think you see a pattern, Northeast Iowa? You should, Grundy is in fourth, Benton in sixth, and Chickasaw in eighth…six of the top ten, squarely in the northeastern quarter of the state.
For some reason, they only ranked the counties from 1 through 50…and as you might expect, the counties with the largest metro populations—like Black Hawk, Linn, Story and Polk—have a far lower percentage of native Iowans living in them.
So one more reason to love Iowa’s rural counties…you have a lot in common with your neighbors…chances are you have bloomed where you were planted.
