Mount Ayr Record-News
Mount Ayr, Ringgold County, Iowa
1980

There are 78 more people in Ringgold County in the latest figures than were counted in the first set of preliminary figures released by the Bureau of the Census, U.S. Department of Commerce.

With the closing of the district office in Des Moines, new figures, called preliminary until the final population and housing counts are released in early 1981, show that Ringgold County has 6,106 people compared to July figures of 6,028 residents. The new count is a drop of 4.2 per cent from the 1970 census figures instead of the 5.4 per cent drop the July figures showed.

Mount Ayr received the largest portion of the increased population figures with an increase of 19 people above the previously reported figure of 1919. The new preliminary total is 1,938, a 10 per cent increase.

Next largest group was found in Beaconsfield where seven more people were added for a new total of 39 residents. Some 46 people were added to totals in communities in the county and 32 more in rural areas.

Population figures increased for every community except Ellston and Maloy, which remain the same.

Gaining the largest percentage of any town in Ringgold County was Delphos which grew from 35 in 1970 to 43 in the latest figures, a 22.8 per-cent jump. Also gaining was Diagonal, where a new figure of 362 compares with 327 in 1970, a 10.7 per-cent increase.

Benton, which had 33 residents in the latest figures, had the largest percentage decrease, dropping for 46 residents in 1970.

Also released were the number of housing units in the county, a total of 2,969. Some 907 of the units are in the city of Mount Ayr. Maloy has the fewest of any town in the county with 16.

New preliminary population and housing until figures for the county and communities in the county are:

  Submission by Mike Avitt, May of 2012