Benton County vs. Tennessee Comparative Trends Analysis: Population Growth and Change, 1969-2022 Introduction Benton County: 2022 Population = 16,002 2022 Percent of State = 0.23% Tennessee: 2022 Population = 7,051,339 2022 Percent of U.S. = 2.12% 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 Benton County with comparisons to Tennessee and the nation at large. This analysis features alternative approaches toward discussing, diagnosing and comparing Benton County vs. Tennessee'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. Population, 1969-2022 Figure 1. Figure 1 tracks Benton County's annual population for the period 1969-2022 to illustrate population patterns over time. During this 54-year period, Benton County's population rose from 12,004 in 1969 to 16,002 in 2022, for a net gain of 3,998, or 33.31%. 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. Population, 1969-2022 Figure 2. Figure 2 traces Tennessee's annual population for the period 1969-2022 to illustrate population patterns over time. During this 54-year period, Tennessee's population rose from 3,897,000 in 1969 to 7,051,339 in 2022, for a net gain of 3,154,339, or 80.94%. 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. Population Indices (1969=100): 1969-2022 Figure 3. Figure 3 portrays Benton County's population growth in a broader context by offering direct comparisons across time with Tennessee, 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. Benton County's overall population growth was 33.31% over 1969-2022 trailed Tennessee's increase of 80.94%, and fell below the United States' increase of 65.57%. Population as a Percent of the Tennessee Total: 1969-2022 Figure 4. Another interesting and insightful way of contrasting the population growth of Benton County is to compare its individual percentage contributions to Tennessee's statewide population over time, as shown in Figure 4. A rising share means a region's population grew faster, or declined less, than Tennessee's population, while a declining share shows it grew more slowly. In 1969, Benton County's population totaled 0.31% of Tennessee's population, while in 2022 it equated to 0.23% thereby yielding a -0.08% share-shift.
Benton County Population: Annual Percent Change, 1970-2022 Figure 5. Figure 5 displays the short-run pattern of Benton 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, Benton County's population grew at an annual rate of 0.55% over 1970-2022. The county posted its highest growth in 1975 (4.61%) and recorded its lowest growth in 2014 (-1.18%). In 2022, Benton County's population grew by 1.03% Benton County Population: Annual Percent Change and Decade Averages Over 1970-2022 Figure 6. 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 shows the annual percent change in Benton County's population since 1970, but this time they are overlayed with average growth rates for the decade of the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, 2010s, and 2020-2022. During the 1970s, Benton County's annual population growth rate averaged 2.15%. It averaged -0.25% during the 1980s, 1.34% throughout the 1990s, -0.06% during the 2000s, -0.31% throughout the 2010s, 0.18% thus far this decade (2020-2022). Population Growth: Average Annual Percent Change by Decade Figure 7. Figure 7 compares the decade average growth rates for Benton County noted in the previous graph with the corresponding decade averages for Tennessee and the nation. As the chart reveals, Benton County's average annual population growth recorded above Tennessee's average throughout the 1970s (2.15% vs. 1.52%), amounted to less than Tennessee's average during the 1980s (-0.25% vs. 0.69%), lagged Tennessee's average during the 1990s (1.34% vs. 1.51%), recorded under Tennessee's average in the 2000s (-0.06% vs. 1.13%), amounted to less than Tennessee's average throughout the 2010s (-0.31% vs. 0.85%), and amounted to less than Tennessee's average over the 3 year period of the current decade, 2020-2022 (0.18% vs. 0.91%). Finally, relative to nationwide population growth trends, Benton County surpassed the nation in the 1970s (2.15% vs. 1.10%), trailed the nation over the 1980s (-0.25% vs. 0.95%), recorded above the nation during the 1990s (1.34% vs. 1.23%), posted below the nation throughout the 2000s (-0.06% vs. 0.95%), fell below the nation during the 2010s (-0.31% vs. 0.74%), and lagged the nation over 2020-2022 (0.18% vs. 0.31%).
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