All signs are pointing up, but only if local government steps up to the challenge: Butler County’s increasing population.

Butler County’s population has grown year, after year, after year. Data released earlier this month from the U.S. Census Bureau has shown Butler County’s population increasing despite the COVID-19 pandemic and ever since then.

Even while other counties in the southwestern portion of the state have seen population decreases, Butler County has grown, reaching 199,341 in 2024.

If trends continue, the county will be able to apply for third-class status sooner rather than later. It’s quite possible that Butler County could grow to this upgraded status before 2030.

The increase is better than the opposite — brain drain — but it does have the potential to wreak havoc.

“You either manage it, or it will run you over,” County Commissioner Leslie Osche said Friday about the growth.

The county is doing its part: Offering resources to municipalities to prepare for the likely continued growth.

But municipalities must respond, too, possibly with zoning regulations and long-range planning that listens to residents. This is a truly local government issue that impacts you at the most direct level.

A note on zoning: Without zoning comes freedom. We all enjoy freedom, but what you may not love is your neighbors’ freedom to use their property however they choose.

Buffalo Township, which has no doubt become a latest target for developers, has been able to control some of its fate due to its planning and zoning.

Leaders in municipalities in the southern — and especially the southwestern portion of Butler County — must face the very real possibility that a sizable portion of the next 10,000 people to come into our county may wind up in their borders.

We’d urge those municipalities to listen now to what current residents want and plan for the future, because if this trend continues, there will be more people coming to Butler County yet.

We can’t say we’re surprised: Who wouldn’t want to live here?

— TL