Attracting and retaining people to live, work, raise a family, and retire underlies the economic vitality of any region. Population growth is both a cause--and a consequence--of economic growth. Patterns of population growth and change reflect differences among regions to attract and retain people both as producers and consumers in their economy.

The following graphs offer a broad overview of trends in the pattern of population growth and change of Pacific County with comparisons to Washington and the nation at large. This analysis features alternative approaches toward discussing, diagnosing and comparing Pacific County vs. Washington's population growth over 1969-2022. The data used are those compiled by the Regional Income and Product Divisions of the Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. Department of Commerce.

Figure 1 tracks Pacific County's annual population for the period 1969-2022 to illustrate population patterns over time. During this 54-year period, Pacific County's population rose from 15,057 in 1969 to 24,095 in 2022, for a net gain of 9,038, or 60.03%.

NOTE: The county and state population totals reported by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) are from the Bureau of Census midyear (July 1) estimates. These estimates may differ from those prepared independently in some states by various agencies and/or universities.

Figure 2 tracks Washington's annual population for the period 1969-2022 to illustrate population patterns over time. During this 54-year period, Washington's population rose from 3,343,000 in 1969 to 7,784,477 in 2022, for a net gain of 4,441,477, or 132.86%.

NOTE: The county and state population totals reported by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) are from the Bureau of Census midyear (July 1) estimates. These estimates may differ from those prepared independently in some states by various agencies and/or universities.

Figure 3 portrays Pacific County's population growth in a broader context by offering direct comparisons across time with Washington, the United States. The growth indices shown here express each region's population in 1969 as a base figure of 100, and the populations in later years as a percentage of the 1969 base figure. This method allows for more direct comparison of differences in population growth between regions that may differ vastly in size.

Pacific County's overall population growth was 60.03% over 1969-2022 trailed Washington's increase of 132.86%, and fell below the United States' increase of 65.56%.

Another interesting and insightful way of comparing the population growth of Pacific County is to trace its individual percentage contributions to Washington's statewide population over time, as shown in Figure 4. A rising share means a region's population grew faster, or declined less, than Washington's population, while a declining share shows it grew more slowly.

In 1969, Pacific County's population comprised 0.45% of Washington's population, while in 2022 it comprised 0.31% thereby yielding a -0.14% share-shift.

Figure 5 displays the short-run pattern of Pacific County's population growth by tracking the year-to-year percent change over 1970-2022. The average annual percent change for the entire 53-year period is also traced on this chart to provide a benchmark for gauging periods of relative high--and relative low--growth against the backdrop of the long-term average.

On average, Pacific County's population grew at an annual rate of 0.90% over 1970-2022. The county posted its highest growth in 1970 (4.60%) and posted its lowest growth in 2001 (-1.47%). In 2022, Pacific County's population grew by 0.43%

Over the past five decades some counties have experienced extreme swings in growth, and often such swings have tended to coincide with the decades themselves. Figure 6 again depicts the annual percent change in Pacific County's population since 1970, but this time they are displayed with average growth rates for the decade of the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, 2010s, and 2020-2022.

During the 1970s, Pacific County's annual population growth rate averaged 1.22%. It averaged 0.86% during the 1980s, 1.31% during the 1990s, 0.00% in the 2000s, 0.89% throughout the 2010s, 1.64% thus far this decade (2020-2022).

Figure 7 compares the decade average growth rates for Pacific County noted in the previous graph with the corresponding decade averages for Washington and the nation. As the chart reveals, Pacific County's average annual population growth recorded under Washington's average during the 1970s (1.22% vs. 1.85%), fell below Washington's average in the 1980s (0.86% vs. 1.70%), amounted to less than Washington's average during the 1990s (1.31% vs. 2.10%), amounted to less than Washington's average throughout the 2000s (0.00% vs. 1.33%), amounted to less than Washington's average throughout the 2010s (0.89% vs. 1.37%), and outgained Washington's average over the 3 year period of the current decade, 2020-2022 (1.64% vs. 0.63%).

Finally, relative to nationwide population growth trends, Pacific County led the nation in the 1970s (1.22% vs. 1.10%), trailed the nation over the 1980s (0.86% vs. 0.95%), led the nation in the 1990s (1.31% vs. 1.23%), trailed the nation in the 2000s (0.00% vs. 0.95%), registered above the nation over the 2010s (0.89% vs. 0.74%), and outpaced the nation over 2020-2022 (1.64% vs. 0.31%).