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 Marshall County with comparisons to Tennessee and the nation at large. This analysis features alternative approaches toward discussing, diagnosing and comparing Marshall 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 tracks Marshall County's annual population for the period 1969-2022 to illustrate population patterns over time. During this 54-year period, Marshall County's population rose from 17,318 in 1969 to 35,878 in 2022, for a net gain of 18,560, or 107.17%.

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.

Another interesting and insightful way of contrasting the population growth of Marshall County is to trace its individual percentage contributions to Tennessee's statewide population over time, as shown in Figure 3. 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, Marshall County's population totaled 0.44% of Tennessee's population, while in 2022 it totaled 0.51% thereby yielding a +0.06% share-shift.

Figure 4 displays the short-run pattern of Marshall 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, Marshall County's population grew at an annual rate of 1.39% over 1970-2022. The county recorded its highest growth in 1990 (4.04%) and posted its lowest growth in 1983 (-0.99%). In 2022, Marshall County's population grew by 2.41%

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 5 again illustrates the annual percent change in Marshall 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, Marshall County's annual population growth rate averaged 1.14%. It averaged 0.76% during the 1980s, 2.38% in the 1990s, 1.41% during the 2000s, 1.13% throughout the 2010s, 1.80% thus far this decade (2020-2022).

Figure 6 compares the decade average growth rates for Marshall County noted in the previous graph with the corresponding decade averages for Tennessee and the nation. As the chart reveals, Marshall County's average annual population growth recorded under Tennessee's average in the 1970s (1.14% vs. 1.52%), topped Tennessee's average in the 1980s (0.76% vs. 0.69%), registered above Tennessee's average in the 1990s (2.38% vs. 1.51%), surpassed Tennessee's average during the 2000s (1.41% vs. 1.13%), outperformed Tennessee's average in the 2010s (1.13% vs. 0.85%), and surpassed Tennessee's average over the 3 year period of the current decade, 2020-2022 (1.80% vs. 0.91%).

Finally, relative to nationwide population growth trends, Marshall County exceeded the nation over the 1970s (1.14% vs. 1.10%), trailed the nation throughout the 1980s (0.76% vs. 0.95%), topped the nation throughout the 1990s (2.38% vs. 1.23%), exceeded the nation in the 2000s (1.41% vs. 0.95%), led the nation in the 2010s (1.13% vs. 0.74%), and surpassed the nation over 2020-2022 (1.80% vs. 0.31%).