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 Montgomery County with comparisons to Tennessee and the nation at large. This analysis features alternative approaches toward discussing, diagnosing and comparing Montgomery 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 Montgomery County's annual population for the period 1969-2022 to illustrate population patterns over time. During this 54-year period, Montgomery County's population rose from 62,116 in 1969 to 235,201 in 2022, for a net gain of 173,085, or 278.65%.

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 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 shows Montgomery 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.

Montgomery County's overall population growth was 278.65% over 1969-2022 outpaced Tennessee's increase of 80.94%, and topped the United States' increase of 65.57%.

Another interesting and insightful way of contrasting the population growth of Montgomery County is to trace 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, Montgomery County's population comprised 1.59% of Tennessee's population, while in 2022 it equated to 3.34% thereby yielding a +1.74% share-shift.

Figure 5 displays the short-run pattern of Montgomery 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, Montgomery County's population grew at an annual rate of 2.57% over 1970-2022. The county recorded its highest growth in 1973 (11.63%) and recorded its lowest growth in 1972 (-1.93%). In 2022, Montgomery County's population grew by 3.23%

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 Montgomery 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, Montgomery County's annual population growth rate averaged 2.99%. It averaged 1.60% during the 1980s, 3.17% in the 1990s, 2.47% during the 2000s, 2.50% throughout the 2010s, 2.88% thus far this decade (2020-2022).

Figure 7 compares the decade average growth rates for Montgomery County noted in the previous graph with the corresponding decade averages for Tennessee and the nation. As the chart reveals, Montgomery County's average annual population growth registered above Tennessee's average during the 1970s (2.99% vs. 1.52%), recorded above Tennessee's average throughout the 1980s (1.60% vs. 0.69%), registered above Tennessee's average during the 1990s (3.17% vs. 1.51%), recorded above Tennessee's average in the 2000s (2.47% vs. 1.13%), topped Tennessee's average in the 2010s (2.50% vs. 0.85%), and surpassed Tennessee's average over the 3 year period of the current decade, 2020-2022 (2.88% vs. 0.91%).

Finally, relative to nationwide population growth trends, Montgomery County led the nation during the 1970s (2.99% vs. 1.10%), exceeded the nation throughout the 1980s (1.60% vs. 0.95%), surpassed the nation throughout the 1990s (3.17% vs. 1.23%), outperformed the nation throughout the 2000s (2.47% vs. 0.95%), topped the nation over the 2010s (2.50% vs. 0.74%), and topped the nation over 2020-2022 (2.88% vs. 0.31%).