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 the Bend MSA with comparisons to Oregon and the nation at large. This analysis features alternative approaches toward discussing, diagnosing and comparing the Bend MSA vs. Oregon'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 the Bend MSA's annual population for the period 1969-2022 to illustrate population patterns over time. During this 54-year period, the Bend MSA's population rose from 29,726 in 1969 to 206,549 in 2022, for a net gain of 176,823, or 594.84%.

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 Oregon's annual population for the period 1969-2022 to illustrate population patterns over time. During this 54-year period, Oregon's population rose from 2,062,000 in 1969 to 4,240,137 in 2022, for a net gain of 2,178,137, or 105.63%.

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 the Bend MSA's population growth in a broader context by offering direct comparisons across time with Oregon, 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.

The Bend MSA's overall population growth was 594.84% over 1969-2022 outpaced Oregon's increase of 105.63%, and topped the United States' increase of 65.57%.

Another interesting and insightful way of contrasting the population growth of the Bend MSA is to trace its individual percentage contributions to Oregon's statewide population over time, as shown in Figure 4. A rising share means a region's population grew faster, or declined less, than Oregon's population, while a declining share shows it grew more slowly.

In 1969, the Bend MSA's population comprised 1.44% of Oregon's population, while in 2022 it comprised 4.87% thereby yielding a +3.43% share-shift.

Figure 5 shows the short-run pattern of the Bend MSA'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, the Bend MSA's population grew at an annual rate of 3.75% over 1970-2022. The Bend MSA posted its highest growth in 1978 (11.22%) and posted its lowest growth in 1983 (-0.82%). In 2022, the Bend MSA's population grew by 0.58%

Over the past five decades some msas 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 the Bend MSA'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, the Bend MSA's annual population growth rate averaged 7.02%. It averaged 2.04% during the 1980s, 4.60% during the 1990s, 3.47% during the 2000s, 2.19% in the 2010s, 1.89% thus far this decade (2020-2022).

Figure 7 compares the decade average growth rates for the Bend MSA noted in the previous graph with the corresponding decade averages for Oregon and the nation. As the chart reveals, the Bend MSA's average annual population growth surpassed Oregon's average throughout the 1970s (7.02% vs. 2.26%), outgained Oregon's average during the 1980s (2.04% vs. 0.80%), topped Oregon's average during the 1990s (4.60% vs. 1.98%), outgained Oregon's average during the 2000s (3.47% vs. 1.16%), outperformed Oregon's average in the 2010s (2.19% vs. 1.02%), and registered above Oregon's average over the 3 year period of the current decade, 2020-2022 (1.89% vs. 0.19%).

Finally, relative to nationwide population growth trends, the Bend MSA registered above the nation during the 1970s (7.02% vs. 1.10%), outperformed the nation during the 1980s (2.04% vs. 0.95%), recorded above the nation in the 1990s (4.60% vs. 1.23%), outpaced the nation in the 2000s (3.47% vs. 0.95%), surpassed the nation in the 2010s (2.19% vs. 0.74%), and outpaced the nation over 2020-2022 (1.89% vs. 0.31%).