Socioeconomic characteristics of growing and declining nonmetropolitan counties in 1970 were compared. Separate analyses for whites and nonwhites and for the South and non-South regions were presented. Observation units were 1,308 nonmetropolitan counties and county equivalents having 250 or more nonwhite residents. Growing and declining counties were dichotomized into those which had grown by even one person and those that had not grown or had declined. The urbanization level was controlled to determine the association between population change and population composition. By grouping together those counties having 20,000 or more urban residents and those having less than 20,000 urban residents, two urban categories were delineated. Some findings were: (1) declining counties have a deficit of young adults (aged 15 to 45) and a surplus of persons 45 and older; (2) the median age of growing counties was 27.1 years and 29 years in declining counties; (3) nonwhites in growing counties had higher levels of educational attainment than their counterparts in declining counties; (4) median family income was substantially lower in declining counties than in growing counties, regardless of race, region, or level of urbanization; and (5) the labor force participation rate of females in growing counties exceeded that in declining counties, regardless of race, region, and level of urbanization. (NQ)