When you think of Cheyenne, or any city in Wyoming, being in the least populated state in the U.S. doesn't exactly scream things like 'fastest growing cities'. However, when you're in a city that is considered as a true gateway to the West, perhaps it was only a matter of time before such a thing could be true.

In recent years, U.S. residents have been moving in droves to up-and-coming areas in the South and to the West throughout the country. With that, Cheyenne has also benefitted from its location in the southeast corner of the state being so close to states like Colorado and Nebraska. Both are states where some of Cheyenne's metro population increase is coming from.

Between 2015 and 2020, the metropolitan area of Cheyenne has increased by 3,505. That is a percentage increase of 3.6 percent, which increased the metro population to 100,595 (just to be clear, the metro population is not the same as the city population, which remains at about 63,607). Within the category of 'small metros', which is what Cheyenne is considered, that ranks them in the top third of all small metros that increased in population.

That may not seem like much, but think about this: In that time span, Green Bay, WI had an increase of 2.4 percent. The reigning NFL MVP Aaron Rodgers plays quarterback for the Green Bay Packers and for a team that is literally owned by the city of Green Bay, and even they couldn't draw as much of a metropolitan population increase as Cheyenne did from 2015-2020. Take that for what you will, but I would say that puts us in elite company (pun intended).

Not only that, but let's compare that with the United States as a whole. From 2015 to 2020, the population grew by 2.7 percent. It went up by 8,745,129 to 329,484,123. We even had almost a full percentage point of growth larger than the entire U.S.

So where is Cheyenne getting this expanded metro population? It seems that the most common origins of the new metro residents are Colorado cities, such as Denver, Aurora, and Lakewood. Maybe they've just figured it out and realized how awesome Cheyenne is. Or perhaps they found higher-quality job opportunities here, which has been the one of the main driving forces for all moves to the South and the West.

As of 2020, the Census shows that the current region breakdown by population is this: 38.1% in the South, 23.7% in the West, 20.8% in the Midwest, and 17.4% in the Northeast. Keep in mind that Wyoming still is the least populated state in the U.S. Nevada and Idaho are getting the bulk of those 'movers out West'.

Perhaps U.S. residents are realizing just how good we have it in Cheyenne and that's why they're making the decision to come here. It could be the scenery, or the wide open space, or tax purposes, or maybe it's just our beer. Regardless, Cheyenne had a pretty impressive showing among the ranks of other metro populations in the U.S. Look at us, Cheyenne, we're growing!

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