Table of Contents
Since the turn of the century the population has been in decline, while the mean resident age has been on the increase. There also appears to be a decline and exodus in the working age population. Looking at the U.S. Census data we can examine Barton in terms of its population count, occupation, housing, education, and economic level. Since 1920 when the number of Barton inhabitants peaked at more than 3500 due to the mills, the population has been on a decline. Present-day the population is estimated at 2858 and is projected to be 2645 in the year 2005. Barton has been experiencing this population decline due to an out migration of people from rural areas (Barton is considered 100% rural by the U.S. Census standard) to more urban areas. Approximately two-thirds of the population traces French or French Canadian in their ancestry, and more than 10% speak French at home. The graph below depicts population growth and decline in Barton from 1791 to 1990.
Two-thirds of the housing units are occupied by their owners, while the other third are rented, suggesting a lack of financial independence by some of the population and/or a large summer population as seen by the number of camps around the lake.
The percent of Barton's population that was below the poverty level rose from 15.8% to 16.2% in the years 1979 and 1989, yet the percentage of people with public assistance income dropped from 29.5% to 11.8% during that same decade. Single parent families have become more numerous. In 1980, 17.4% of families were single parent families, as compared to 23% in 1990. During the same time period, education levels increased. A greater percentage of people in Barton are receiving high school diplomas, some college, and bachelor's degrees in 1990 than were receiving them ten years earlier.
In 1990 there were 1277 employed people over the age 16 in Barton. Almost two-thirds of these people worked within town boundaries. From 1980 to 1990, the number of people working in sales nearly doubled, while those working as machine operators, assemblers, handlers, laborers, etc. dropped by one third. The service occupations have increased. Interestingly, a mere 3.6% of Barton's inhabitants call themselves farmers. Obviously, "rural" does not translate into agricultural in this steep, forested region.
Comments to: crs@uvm.edu Reviewed on 3/28/97