While growth has declined throughout Oregon, Central Oregon continues to be one of fastest-growing regions of the state, with slightly more than 1% population growth from 2022-2023, according to U.S. Census data.

This confirms what Central Oregonians have felt for years, that Deschutes, Jefferson and Crook counties were popular places to move to — especially during the pandemic.

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“During COVID, I can remember when we didn’t know what was going to happen in the early part of 2020. All of a sudden, we found out that people were going to leave big cities and move to more rural places like this,” said Deschutes County Commissioner Tony DeBone.

Within the three counties that span Central Oregon — Deschutes County, Jefferson County and Crook County — Deschutes County had the most growth from 2020 to 2023, at 5.2% over three years, or a net addition of 10,262 people. It was also the leading county for just 2022-2023, though growth slowed to 1%.

While growth also slowed in Crook County, it continued to outpace other counties. From 2020 to 2023, it ranked as the fifth fastest growing county in the state. But it became the third-fastest growing county in Oregon for 2022-2023. Overall, the county added 2,214 people over three years.

“I’m not surprised,” said Crook County Commissioner Seth Crawford. “Crook County is a great place to live. We have people here that have a strong community. We help each other. We take care of each other. We make sure we have a clean, livable community, and I think that’s something that a lot of people want.”

Jefferson County’s growth similarly slowed in 2022-2023 to 0.5%.

The fact that Central Oregon grew during the pandemic stands out from the rest of the state, where many counties saw comparable amounts of population reduction.

Multnomah County, for example, shrank by 3.2% from 2020-2023, and Oregon overall shrank by 0.1%.

Both DeBone and Crawford said they see this trend of growth in Central Oregon continuing.

“We’ve always been a summertime recreation location,” DeBone said. “There’s a whole generation of people that know to come to Central Oregon in the summertime. … This is a prime place to be, so this is the transition from being that place people went to for their two-week vacation to, ‘I can finally move there.’ ”

DeBone said he sees a lot of seniors who come to Deschutes County for retirement, but the data shows families are contributing to growth in Deschutes County more than in other areas of Central Oregon. From 2020-2023, births outpaced deaths by more than 100 babies per year, while in Crook County and Jefferson County, deaths outpaced births by 231 and 98, respectively, over three years.

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DeBone hopes to encourage generational growth in Deschutes County and keep diversifying the population.

“We’ve diversified (our economy) so there are jobs for people that want to work. There’s retirement opportunities for people that want to buy a house and move here. Hopefully, we’re going to see healthy generational opportunities for mom, dad and the kids who can stay here,” DeBone said.