Over the last few years, Wyoming's African-American population has grown fast. According to U.S. Census data, between 2010 and 2013, the number of black residents more than doubled – from 4,389 to 9,182. In some counties, especially those with a lot of energy development or tourism, that increase was big, anywhere from 300-800 percent. Other rural Western states, all with unemployment rates well below the national average, are experiencing a similar trend.

"Wyoming's population growth and decline, it is mostly driven by employment," said Wenlin Liu, principal economist with Wyoming's Economic Analysis Division. "We are different from Arizona or Florida. People go there to retire. Most people really come to Wyoming for employment purposes. That's why during the boom, they move here."

Steve Marsh from Chicago, Ray Stewart from Shreveport, Louisiana and Ivan Pettigrew of Atlanta all moved to Gillette, Wyoming for energy industry work. Marsh and Stewart work in the oilfields and Pettigrew is a janitor at a coal mine. The transition from urban, mostly black neighborhoods, to rural mostly white Wyoming, has been hard at times.

"When I first got here, if every time you stepped into a restaurant, you feel five, six, seven, eight eyes on you and then you look back and they look away and then other people from the table are still looking," Marsh said. "It's uncomfortable, to say the least!"

Stewart is a little more direct with how he deals with those looks.

"If you stare at me long enough, you're gonna be my best friend," he exclaims. "It's gonna happen. Whether you want it to or not!"

Pettigrew said people here are generally helpful and pretty friendly. He has found the same in other states where he has gone for work. Not everyone, of course. At his apartment his neighbor's pickup truck flies two confederate flags.

During an energy boom, the state's population generally increases and goes back down during the bust. Thanks to low oil prices, energy companies have been laying off workers. Although Wyoming's job market hasn't been hit hard yet, layoffs are looming.

One of the factors that could make this population change more permanent though for Wyoming is children.

Leigh Paterson / Inside Energy

Between 2010 and 2013, the U.S. Census said the number of African-American children in the state under the age of 10 grew by over 40 percent, while the number of white children remained steady. So while African-Americans still make up less than 2 percent of the state's total population there is more of a community than in the past.

"People with kids and families, even in a slowdown they're probably trying to stay here," state economist Wenlin Liu said. "It's not easy to move."

Pettigrew explained the jobs that attracted so many new workers are not as plentiful as they used to be. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor statistics, Wyoming lost around 1,500 mining and logging jobs between December 2014 and March 2015.

"In 2009 and 2010, you could basically lose your job one day and start working again the same day or the next day! Now it's not that easy," Pettigrew said.

If the jobs went away, would the other two younger men stay? For Steve Marsh, probably not. He is more of a city guy, but he conceded his priorities have changed.

"To be quite honest, I'm here for my children now," Marsh said.

Ray Stewart, however, was unequivocal.

"I would definitely stay," he said. "I like the community. Within the five years I've been here I met my wife. I like it here."

Inside Energy is a public media collaboration, based in Colorado, Wyoming and North Dakota, focusing on the energy industry and its impacts.