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 Union County with comparisons to Tennessee and the nation at large. This analysis features alternative approaches toward discussing, diagnosing and comparing Union 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 Union County's annual population for the period 1969-2022 to illustrate population patterns over time. During this 54-year period, Union County's population rose from 9,033 in 1969 to 20,452 in 2022, for a net gain of 11,419, or 126.41%.

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 shows Union 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.

Union County's overall population growth was 126.41% 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 highlighting the population growth of Union 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, Union County's population comprised 0.23% of Tennessee's population, while in 2022 it totaled 0.29% thereby yielding a +0.06% share-shift.

Figure 5 shows the short-run pattern of Union 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, Union County's population grew at an annual rate of 1.57% over 1970-2022. The county recorded its highest growth in 1977 (8.31%) and posted its lowest growth in 1973 (-4.50%). In 2022, Union County's population grew by 2.28%

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 Union 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, Union County's annual population growth rate averaged 2.57%. It averaged 1.52% during the 1980s, 2.68% throughout the 1990s, 0.93% in the 2000s, 0.20% during the 2010s, 1.40% thus far this decade (2020-2022).

Figure 7 compares the decade average growth rates for Union County noted in the previous graph with the corresponding decade averages for Tennessee and the nation. As the chart reveals, Union County's average annual population growth led Tennessee's average in the 1970s (2.57% vs. 1.52%), topped Tennessee's average during the 1980s (1.52% vs. 0.69%), exceeded Tennessee's average throughout the 1990s (2.68% vs. 1.51%), posted below Tennessee's average during the 2000s (0.93% vs. 1.13%), recorded under Tennessee's average in the 2010s (0.20% vs. 0.85%), and outperformed Tennessee's average over the 3 year period of the current decade, 2020-2022 (1.40% vs. 0.91%).

Finally, relative to nationwide population growth trends, Union County recorded above the nation over the 1970s (2.57% vs. 1.10%), topped the nation in the 1980s (1.52% vs. 0.95%), exceeded the nation during the 1990s (2.68% vs. 1.23%), fell under the nation in the 2000s (0.93% vs. 0.95%), fell under the nation throughout the 2010s (0.20% vs. 0.74%), and topped the nation over 2020-2022 (1.40% vs. 0.31%).