County Economic Trends: Barton County

Abstract

The use of data in economic development is important because it assists a community in "taking stock" and understanding its current situation across several different areas of economic and demographic performance. However, data by itself does not lead to a well­-founded understanding of the community. Data must be analyzed and interpreted, taking into account the intuition of those within the community about what the overall trends really mean. In other words, data serves as the foundation for an analysis which concludes: 1) what is happening in the community relative to other regions over time, and 2) what potential impacts or consequences are suggested from the data.

From 1991-92, Barton County engaged in a strategic planning process for economic development. At that time, extensive data analyses were conducted for the county, both by the Docking Institute of Public Affairs at Fort Hays State University and by the Institute for Public Policy and Business Research at the University of Kansas. The following data analysis, commissioned by the Mid-Kansas Economic Development Commission, is an update of selected data in order to assess any change in trends or progress made in the last few years. This update report will look at the following key demographic and economic variables: population, employment, agriculture and oil production, and personal income.