In 1900, 660 people were living in the Ferron precinct, which included the town and the surrounding farms. By 1910 the population had grown to 1,022, and Ferron enjoyed the amenities of a substantial country town, including schools, churches, a flour mill, a hotel, stores, and a saloon. For the next half century, the community exported virtually all of its natural increase, and the 1960 census showed population numbers almost identical to those of 1900--though with a significantly older average age.

Farming and stockraising have been mainstays of the Ferron economy throughout its history. Several families have continued into the fourth and fifth generation the tradition of grazing range livestock on the Wasatch Plateau in the summer and on the San Rafael Swell in the winter, with supplemental feed grown on irrigated farms in the river valley. The Southeastern Utah Junior Livestock Show has been held annually in Ferron for more than fifty years. Through the early decades of the twentieth century, many families kept a few milk cows for their own use and produced butter for sale. In 1905 and again in 1930, commercial creameries were established in Ferron. Though these operations were fairly shortlived, they led to the development of modern dairy farms that from 1950 onward supplied milk to the Wasatch Front urban market.