Wyoming "Cities"

by Peter Saint-Andre

2007-06-17

Wyoming is one of those American states that doesn't have any big cites (other such states include my home state of Maine, Vermont, Montana, and West Virginia). Since the average elevation in Wyoming is lower only than Colorado, I've often wondered how many towns in Wyoming have a population greater than their elevation. A quick visit to city-data.com yields the following list (in order of "P/E quotient", i.e., year 2000 population divided by elevation):

1. Casper (49,644 people / 5,140 ft = 9.73)
2. Cheyenne (53,011 / 6067 = 8.74)
3. Gillette (19,646 / 4,550 = 4.32)
4. Sheridan (15,804 / 3,742 = 4.22)
5. Laramie (27,204 / 7,163 = 3.80)
6. Rock Springs (18,708 / 6,759 = 2.77)
7. Green River (11,808 / 6,109 = 1.93
8. Cody (8,835 / 5,088 = 1.74)
9. Evanston (11,507 / 6,749 = 1.71)
10. Riverton (9,310 / 5,225 = 1.69)
11. Torrington (5,776 / 4,105 = 1.41)
12. Jackson (8,647 / 6,234 = 1.39)
13. Worland (5,250 / 4,065 = 1.29
14. Lander (6,867 / 5,355 = 1.28)
15. Rawlins (8,538 / 6,769 = 1.26)
16. Powell (5,373 / 4,365 = 1.23)
17. Douglas (5,288 / 4,830 = 1.09)

That's it!

BTW, a plot of population over elevation might make a fun map to show over at Strange Maps.

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