Butler County will likely show continued population growth when the 2020 U.S. Census figures are released, estimates of the 2018 population released Thursday indicate.

But it won’t all be good news.

Five-year estimates from the American Community Survey — the Census Bureau’s yearly survey mailed to about 3.5 million households across the country — show that the growth experienced in the county has slowed.

The estimates, which are weighted averages of data from surveys taken between 2014 and 18, tabulate the county’s population at 186,566, a 1.5 percent increase from 183,862 in 2010. The eight-year increase, however, is one-third the growth over the 10-year span from 2000 to 2010, when the county grew 5.6 percent from 174,083 to 183,862.

While the county has continued, even if slowed, its population growth, Butler city has similarly slowed its population decline.

Between 2000 and 2010, the city’s population shrunk 9 percent, from just over 15,000 to under 14,000. The ACS data indicate that decline slowed to 4 percent over the eight-year period.

In southwestern Butler County, quick growth will likely continue to be the norm, though, much like the county generally, it has cooled.

The data show an 8.7 percent increase in the Cranberry Township population between 2010 and 2018, lower than the 19 percent growth experienced in the township from 2000–10.

This is a preview of an article that appears in Monday’s Butler Eagle. Subscribe online or in print to read the full article.