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 Jefferson County with comparisons to Oregon and the nation at large. This analysis features alternative approaches toward discussing, diagnosing and comparing Jefferson County 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 Jefferson County's annual population for the period 1969-2022 to illustrate population patterns over time. During this 54-year period, Jefferson County's population rose from 8,654 in 1969 to 25,330 in 2022, for a net gain of 16,676, or 192.70%.

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 portrays Jefferson County'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.

Jefferson County's overall population growth was 192.70% over 1969-2022 outpaced Oregon's increase of 105.63%, and outpaced the United States' increase of 65.57%.

Another interesting and insightful way of comparing the population growth of Jefferson County is to compare 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, Jefferson County's population comprised 0.42% of Oregon's population, while in 2022 it totaled 0.60% thereby yielding a +0.18% share-shift.

Figure 5 shows the short-run pattern of Jefferson 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, Jefferson County's population grew at an annual rate of 2.06% over 1970-2022. The county recorded its highest growth in 1974 (6.78%) and posted its lowest growth in 1986 (-2.02%). In 2022, Jefferson County's population grew by 0.83%

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 Jefferson 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, Jefferson County's annual population growth rate averaged 2.79%. It averaged 1.54% during the 1980s, 3.43% throughout the 1990s, 1.61% throughout the 2000s, 1.15% in the 2010s, 1.34% thus far this decade (2020-2022).

Figure 7 compares the decade average growth rates for Jefferson County noted in the previous graph with the corresponding decade averages for Oregon and the nation. As the chart reveals, Jefferson County's average annual population growth recorded above Oregon's average during the 1970s (2.79% vs. 2.26%), outgained Oregon's average throughout the 1980s (1.54% vs. 0.80%), outpaced Oregon's average throughout the 1990s (3.43% vs. 1.98%), exceeded Oregon's average in the 2000s (1.61% vs. 1.16%), surpassed Oregon's average during the 2010s (1.15% vs. 1.02%), and exceeded Oregon's average over the 3 year period of the current decade, 2020-2022 (1.34% vs. 0.19%).

Finally, relative to nationwide population growth trends, Jefferson County outperformed the nation in the 1970s (2.79% vs. 1.10%), outgained the nation throughout the 1980s (1.54% vs. 0.95%), outperformed the nation throughout the 1990s (3.43% vs. 1.23%), registered above the nation over the 2000s (1.61% vs. 0.95%), exceeded the nation during the 2010s (1.15% vs. 0.74%), and led the nation over 2020-2022 (1.34% vs. 0.31%).