St. Mary population takes another hit

A parishwide economic slump continues to make an impact on St. Mary Parish’s population.
By mid-2018, the parish’s population had shrunk by nearly 5,000 people since the 2010 Census, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s mid-year population estimates.
St. Mary started the decade with 54,650 people, according to the 2010 Census. The population declined to 49,774 by mid-2018, according to the annual estimate, which is based on factors such as school enrollment.
The biggest population losers were some of the parish’s biggest incorporated places.
Morgan City’s population fell from 12,404 in 2010 to 10,918 in 2018, a decrease of 12 percent.
Franklin’s population dropped from 7,660 nine years ago to 6,768 in 2018, a decline of 11.4 percent.
Berwick started the decade with 4,946 people, only 54 short of the number needed to move from town to city status. By 2018, the population had fallen to 4,471, a decline of 9.6 percent.
Patterson has fared better, dropping from 6,112 to 5,839, or 4.5 percent, 2010-18.
Baldwin’s population dropped from 2,436 to 2,244, a decrease of 7.9 percent
For six decades, St. Mary’s population has fluctuated along with the oil economy.
After declining through the Depression and war years, the parish’s population exploded after offshore oil production began in earnest. The number of people here grew from about 35,000 in 1950 to more than 64,000 in 1980, according to the decennial counts.
But unstable oil prices have taken their toll in St. Mary. The population dropped to 53,000 by 2000.
More recently, the plummet in crude oil prices and the shift of industry focus from offshore to onshore production caused more tremors in the local economy.
In Morgan City, more than two-thirds of the decade’s population loss has occurred since 2014, when oil dropped from near $105 per barrel to less than $40. More than three-quarters of Berwick’s population loss occurred in the same period.
And during that time, more than one St. Mary job in every five has disappeared.
Local governments have struggled with declining tax revenues in that time. The St. Mary Parish School Board closed two schools, M.D. Shannon and J.A. Hernandez elementary schools, to cope with declining enrollment.
Statewide, the estimated population in mid-2018 was 4,659,972, up 2.8 percent from 2010.
The nation’s population grew by 6 percent to more than 327 million 2010-18.
The Census Bureau reports that the nation’s population continues to grow older. The median age — the value that separates the youngest half from the oldest half — grew by a full year to 38.2.
This story has been corrected to fix a typographical error. The parish's estimated population in mid-2018 was 49,774, a loss of nearly 5,000 residents.