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 Hardin County with comparisons to Tennessee and the nation at large. This analysis features alternative approaches toward discussing, diagnosing and comparing Hardin 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.

Figure 1 traces Hardin County's annual population for the period 1969-2022 to illustrate population patterns over time. During this 54-year period, Hardin County's population rose from 18,172 in 1969 to 27,077 in 2022, for a net gain of 8,905, or 49.00%.

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 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.

Figure 3 portrays Hardin 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.

Hardin County's overall population growth was 49.00% over 1969-2022 trailed Tennessee's increase of 80.94%, and fell below the United States' increase of 65.57%.

Another interesting and insightful way of comparing the population growth of Hardin 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, Hardin County's population comprised 0.47% of Tennessee's population, while in 2022 it comprised 0.38% thereby yielding a -0.08% share-shift.

Figure 5 displays the short-run pattern of Hardin 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 illustrated 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, Hardin County's population grew at an annual rate of 0.76% over 1970-2022. The county recorded its highest growth in 1975 (5.52%) and posted its lowest growth in 1974 (-2.34%). In 2022, Hardin County's population grew by 0.74%

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 Hardin 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, Hardin County's annual population growth rate averaged 1.66%. It averaged 0.54% throughout the 1980s, 1.25% in the 1990s, 0.22% throughout the 2000s, 0.26% during the 2010s, 0.43% thus far this decade (2020-2022).

Figure 7 compares the decade average growth rates for Hardin County noted in the previous graph with the corresponding decade averages for Tennessee and the nation. As the chart reveals, Hardin County's average annual population growth recorded above Tennessee's average during the 1970s (1.66% vs. 1.52%), lagged Tennessee's average during the 1980s (0.54% vs. 0.69%), recorded under Tennessee's average throughout the 1990s (1.25% vs. 1.51%), trailed Tennessee's average during the 2000s (0.22% vs. 1.13%), recorded under Tennessee's average throughout the 2010s (0.26% vs. 0.85%), and fell below Tennessee's average over the 3 year period of the current decade, 2020-2022 (0.43% vs. 0.91%).

Finally, relative to nationwide population growth trends, Hardin County led the nation during the 1970s (1.66% vs. 1.10%), recorded underneath the nation during the 1980s (0.54% vs. 0.95%), exceeded the nation throughout the 1990s (1.25% vs. 1.23%), fell under the nation throughout the 2000s (0.22% vs. 0.95%), fell below the nation in the 2010s (0.26% vs. 0.74%), and outpaced the nation over 2020-2022 (0.43% vs. 0.31%).