DOOR COUNTY (NBC 26) — Door County is set to see a decreasing population by the year 2050 but over the last couple of years, the county has been growing in size.
- Patrick Cole the co-owner of Door County Bagel Company a local business in Door County talks about growing his family on the Peninsula.
- Door County Administrator Ken Pabich talks about what factors play into the population decrease.
- The Door County population currently and what the decrease in population would look like.
(The following is a transcription of the full broadcast story)
Patrick Cole is the co-owner of the Door County Bagel Company, a business he and his wife started about five years ago.
"It's just kinda something we had talked about for a while and then Covid happened then we finally just had the time to sit down and say hey let's figure this out and see if we can make a business out of it," Cole said.
For the young business owners, staying in Door County wasn't always the goal but the area has grown on them.
"We have two kids now, we've put down roots and stuff. Like, it's just such a great community— everybody the network that you build, you build these relationships and friendships that I mean we personally— I can't imagine leaving" Cole said.
According to a recent estimate from the state of Wisconsin, Door County could see a 4% decrease in the population from now until 2050.
With Door County's current population of 30,500 that would equal a loss of over a thousand people. County administrator Ken Pabich says the decrease is in part because Door County is an aging county.
"So part of that is gonna be just from that [older] cohort getting up to that age group and people unfortunately passing away or moving on and going on to a retirement area," Pabich said.
However, over the last 15 years, Door County's population has grown.
"The data so far, even from 2010 to now have been up, and even from 2020 to 2024 our population has increased."
With the projection of a population decrease, Door County will see a significant impact on the services provided to the older population on the peninsula.
