Demographic Profile

A population of approximately 50,000 resides in a 25 mile radius.  State Trunk Highway 29 and the STH 73/CTH M interchange are seeing an annual average daily traffic (AADT) of over 20,000 vehicles a day. This is nearly a 43% increase over the past ten years. This coupled with the recent and planned commercial expansions makes this area a prime development site.

As the Eau Claire bypass is completed in the coming months a four-lane connection between Minneapolis to Green Bay will be in place for the first time. The center of this northern east to west corridor is Thorp with no major commercial development for fifty miles yet a current population base within 25 miles that is larger than many communities. Enjoy the information presented on this site and we will look forward to seeing you come to town!

General Population Trends

The City of Thorp’s historic population change between 1950 and 2000 is presented in Table 1, below. Overall, Thorp’s population grew by 11 percent (153 people) between 1950 and 2000. This reflects a slow, sustained average annual growth rate of 0.2 percent, or approximately three persons per year. This fluctuating growth rate experienced a significant population decline between 1990 and 2000. The Census data for 2000 indicates a loss of 121 individuals during the past decade, reflecting a 7.3 percent decrease in population.

In comparison to other cities in Clark County, Thorp’s historic population fluctuations reflect the population dynamics of other small rural communities. Table 2 presents the comparative population growth for other cities in Clark County.

Recent Trends Affecting Population & Housing

Based upon past and present housing trends in the City of Thorp, it would appear that the City has made a concerted effort to address the demand for affordable housing for that segment of the population experiencing financial distress. Current conditions indicate a reduced demand for additional low cost housing. The Thorp Public Housing Authority has identified no additional housing needs in their Five Year Management Plan for the years 2000 through 2004. As of August of 2000, the Housing Authority apartments had a 23 percent vacancy rate, with a 15 percent vacancy rate for their single-family rental houses. It should be noted, however, that those vacant single-family homes were undergoing rehabilitation to improve their living conditions. The Housing Authority, along with a strong public opinion gathered from the community survey, agree that a greater emphasis needs to be placed on the maintenance and rehabilitation of the older blighted housing stock in the community. City officials have, in turn, responded to this need by applying for a federal Community Development Block Grant for housing rehabilitation assistance. The successful grant awarded the community approximately $460,000 in early 2001 to address housing rehabilitation needs.

Other population trends that will influence the need for future low cost retirement housing involve the changing culture of the surrounding rural population. The growth of the Amish population in the surrounding farming area will reduce the demand for retirement housing because of their tradition of maintaining their elderly within the extended family. Similarly, Clark County social service professionals have recognized the benefits of helping to maintain the elderly within the setting of their own homes and have expanded the County’s social service programs to include more assistance with home maintenance activities such as mowing lawns and shoveling snow for the elderly.

An additional factor that may influence the population growth and the subsequent need for additional housing is associated with the anticipated opening of the medium security correctional facility located approximately six miles to the west of Thorp in the community of Stanley, in Chippewa County. The Stanley Correctional Facility is expected to employ a staff of 366 with approximately half of those positions being filled by local residents, while the other half are expected to be filled by individuals relocating to the surrounding area. However, the full impact of the operation of this facility is difficult to project based on several factors. Among these are: when the facility will open, the staging of employment to full staffing, whether the facility is privately or publicly operated, the wage scale, and how many employees will relocate to the local area.

Thorp experienced the smallest increase in the number of households for all of the cities in Clark County, while the Cities of Greenwood and Owen experienced decreases in the number of households. The number of persons per household in Thorp remained relatively stable, while household size generally decreased throughout the County.

Knowledge of the age composition of a population is vital to planning since age influences the time at which a person completes his schooling, enters the labor market, marries, forms a family, and retires from the labor force. Each of these events has implications for land use, housing, transportation, and other public facilities planning. Since each age group exerts different demands for facilities and services, it is important to know the number of persons in each age group now and the probable number which may be expected in the future. The needs of an older, more mature population are quite different from those of a younger, growing population. Moreover, each group contributes differently to the support of the community.

Figure 1 depicts the comparative population by age and sex distribution for 1980 and 1990 for the City of Thorp.

Between 1980 and 1990, significant changes occurred in the age distribution of Thorp’s population. The pre-school age population (ages 0-4) increased by 21 percent. Given the passing of another decade, this population sub-group is now part of the enrollment numbers in the local school system. During this same decade there was a substantial decrease of over 35 percent in the young adult age population (ages 18-24). The dramatic drop in this age group is most likely associated with high school graduates moving away from home to pursue post-secondary education, job training, or employment opportunities. While the young working age population (ages 25-44) experienced an increase of almost 20 percent during this time period, the remaining working age population (ages 45-64) declined by 34 percent. The most significant population shift occurred in the retirement age population (ages 65+). Overall, this population group increased by 26 percent and represented a larger proportion of the City’s total 1990 population (31%) compared to the 1980 population (25%). The net affect on the age structure of the City’s population between 1980 and 1990 is an increase in the median age from 37.7 to 38.9.

Overall, the male-to-female ratio remained relatively unchanged between 1980 and 1990. Males represented 45 percent of the total 1990 population, down only one percent from 1980 while females represented 55 percent of the City’s 1990 population. The number of males declined by 1.2 percent between 1980 and 1990, while the number of females increased by 3.5 percent during this same period.

An individual’s educational attainment level significantly influences their quality of life. It directly relates to individual choices in employment, income, housing, and mobility. These choices, in turn, contribute to a community’s growth and prosperity. The educational attainment levels of the residents of the City of Thorp are presented in Table 4 and compared between 1980 and 1990 Census data.

Overall, the educational attainment levels increased for the residents of Thorp between 1980 and 1990. There were 26 percent more residents with a high school diploma or post-secondary education in 1990 than in 1980. There were 32 percent more individuals who sought a post-secondary education, while the number of individuals without a high school diploma decreased by 18 percent. The increase in educational levels can both raise community expectations and standards, as well as contribute toward their successful achievement.

Housing Characteristics

A review of the housing stock in the City of Thorp will provide valuable information that will assist in identifying housing improvement needs in conjunction with determining additional housing demand. Table 5 presents a comparative overview of the housing characteristics of Thorp for 1980, 1990 and 2000.

The table identifies recently released census housing data for the year 2000. As indicated in the table, the total number of housing units in Thorp increased by only 0.7 percent (five units) between 1990 and 2000. Owner-occupied units increased by 3.8 percent (19 units), while rental units decreased by 12.3 percent (27 units). Vacant housing units increased by more than 60 percent (53 units). The number of persons per housing unit continued to decline to 2.02, following the population loss during the 1990s. While more detailed housing data is not yet available from the 2000 census, building permit data gathered by the City indicates the addition of 29 new housing units between 1990 and 2000. These units were comprised of 15 single-family units, three duplexes, and two four-plexes.

However, even with the additional new residential construction, the housing stock in the City is relatively old. Table 6 presents the number of housing units by the year in which they were constructed. As identified in Table 6, only 10.1 percent of the housing stock in Thorp was built within the past 20 years, while over half (55.4 percent) are between 20 and 50 years old, and over one-third (34.5 percent) are over 50 years old.

A further examination of the type of housing in Thorp may help to identify future housing needs. Table 7 presents a comparison of housing units by structural type for the City of Thorp and the other cities within Clark County.

Thorp shares a comparable percentage of single-family homes with other cities in Clark County. Of the remaining mix of housing types, Thorp has the lowest percentage of 2-4 family structures, but has a high percentage of multi-family (5 or more units) structures and mobile homes. The relatively high percentage of multi-family structures (5 or more units) and mobile homes in the community may be an indication of the demand for low cost housing options.

A look at household spending in relation to housing costs will help to determine the availability of affordable housing in the City of Thorp. Table 8 presents a comparative review of housing cost indicators. According to the U.S Census Bureau, households that spend 30 percent or more of their gross income on housing costs (i.e., rent, utilities, principal, interest, taxes, and insurance) are considered financially burdened. Compared to other cities in Clark County, Thorp has the highest percentage (37.7 percent) of renters and second highest percentage (18.0 percent) of homeowners spending 30 percent or more of their income on housing costs. Based on the number of owner-occupied and renter-occupied housing units in the City in 1990, approximately one-fourth (24 percent) of those households are considered financially burdened by housing costs.

Another factor in determining the financial impact of housing in a community is an individual's income and ability to pay housing costs. Low or moderate income (LMI) households are defined as those households earning an income that is 80 percent or less of the median income in the county. The LMI threshold for Clark County was determined to be $17,742 in 1990. Households that are identified as LMI generally experience more prevalent problems with housing costs. Table 9 presents comparative LMI data for Thorp and the other cities in Clark County. According to the 1990 census data, one-half of the households in Thorp are identified as low or moderate income households. Thorp ranks second, next to the City of Owen, with the highest percentage of LMI households for all of the cities in Clark County.