After benefiting from COVID-19 demographic shifts, population growth in Indiana’s rural communities slowed last year, but a couple counties bucked the trend.
In 2025, Owen County and nearby Parke County in southwest Indiana were the 9th and 10th fastest-growing communities in the state, respectively, with 1.1% population increases, according to a recent analysis from the Indiana Business Research Center.
Hamilton, Hendricks, Johnson, Morgan and Madison counties, all surrounding Marion County, were the only others with population increases between 1.1% and 1.9%.
Three mostly rural counties adjacent to large cities — Boone and Hancock near Indianapolis and Clark just north of Louisville — saw gains of more than 2%. Of the remaining Hoosier counties, 56 grew by less than 1%, and 26 saw population losses.
The IU study said pandemic-driven moves to the country are over. Population in the state’s rural counties grew by more than 3,000 in 2023 and 2024, but the total was just 400 last year.
Some communities are offering direct cash incentives to attract new residents, but others, like Owen County, are banking on investments made into quality of life factors like internet access and childcare.
Wanted: Affordable country living
Marce Johnson, CEO, Owen County Chamber of Commerce and Economic Development Office
Marce Johnson, CEO of the Owen County Chamber of Commerce and Economic Development Office, realized during the pandemic that attracting and maintaining people meant offering high-speed internet, decent housing, expanded infrastructure and childcare people could afford.
“It’s not any one thing that brings growth. It’s looking at your community and figuring out the needs and then how you will provide for those needs,” Johnson said. “What I know is that a rural community that isn’t growing runs the risk of becoming a vanishing community.”
The area’s three internet providers developed a plan, funded in part by state grants, to get fiber internet out to county residents.
Then Cook Medical, which employs about 700 at its Spencer plant, bought land in eastern Owen County for 96 workforce housing single-family homes. Half are completed and the others are under construction in the county’s first new housing addition in decades.
Expanded water availability and sewer lines are spurring local growth. Johnson said developers saw Cook’s affordable housing project, made inquiries and are building homes. The Owen County Boys & Girls Club opened in 2024 and provides after-school transportation to the club and childcare until 7 p.m. for $20 per year for working parents.
"A lot to do"
The downtown Spencer streetscape has evolved from empty storefronts and businesses with plywood nailed over the windows to a destination. It has an historic movie theater, local shops, an LGBTQ community center, a brew pub, a bakery, a Thai restaurant, a family-run coffeehouse and a walking trail.
Gabriel and Kovenant Liby moved to Spencer from Bloomington in 2022. Young, newly married and living in an apartment, they started searching for a small house. Bloomington’s inflated market sent them to Bedford and Martinsville, where houses were more affordable.
They bought a house that’s a 15-minute walk from downtown Spencer. With their baby and 2-year-old in a stroller, the family can travel by foot to Main Street Coffee, Cooper Commons Park, the downtown library, the farmer’s market and locally owned Babb's grocery store. “I appreciate being able to walk places and this is a pretty pedestrian-friendly town,” Kovenant Liby said. “I love not having to take the car.”
It was during a church service in Spencer that they realized Owen County might be a place to look. “Everyone was so friendly and invited us to events and then we kept finding ourselves coming to Spencer two or three times a week,” Kovenant Liby said. “There’s a lot to do downtown.”
She said proximity to Bloomington and Indianapolis allows access to amenities within an hours’ drive from her Spencer home.
“You can have the quiet community of a small town and no traffic congestion and also access to cities,” she said. “For us, it’s the best of both worlds.”
This article first appeared on FPI News and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
