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 Multnomah County with comparisons to Oregon and the nation at large. This analysis features alternative approaches toward discussing, diagnosing and comparing Multnomah County vs. Oregon's population growth over 1969-2021. 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 Multnomah County's annual population for the period 1969-2021 to illustrate population patterns over time. During this 53-year period, Multnomah County's population rose from 559,379 in 1969 to 803,377 in 2021, for a net gain of 243,998, or 43.6%.

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 1969-2021 to illustrate population patterns over time. During this 53-year period, Oregon's population rose from 2,062,000 in 1969 to 4,246,155 in 2021, for a net gain of 2,184,155, or 105.9%.

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 Multnomah 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.

Multnomah County's overall population growth was 43.6% over 1969-2021 trailed Oregon's increase of 105.9%, and fell below the United States' increase of 64.9%.

Another interesting and insightful way of contrasting the population growth of Multnomah County 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, Multnomah County's population totaled 27.1% of Oregon's population, while in 2021 it totaled 18.9% thereby yielding a -8.2% share-shift.

Figure 5 shows the short-run pattern of Multnomah County's population growth by tracking the year-to-year percent change over 1970-2021. The average annual percent change for the entire 52-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, Multnomah County's population grew at an annual rate of 0.70% over 1970-2021. The county recorded its highest growth in 2008 (2.18%) and posted its lowest growth in 2021 (-1.53%). In 2021, Multnomah County's population declined by -1.53%

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 Multnomah County's population since 1970, but this time they are overlayed with average growth rates for the decade of the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, 2010s, and 2020-2021.

During the 1970s, Multnomah County's annual population growth rate averaged -0.04%. It averaged 0.36% in the 1980s, 1.32% throughout the 1990s, 1.02% throughout the 2000s, 1.11% in the 2010s, -0.56% thus far this decade (2020-2021).

Figure 7 compares the decade average growth rates for Multnomah County noted in the previous graph with the corresponding decade averages for Oregon and the nation. As the chart reveals, Multnomah County's average annual population growth amounted to less than Oregon's average during the 1970s (-0.04% vs. 2.26%), recorded under Oregon's average throughout the 1980s (0.36% vs. 0.80%), posted below Oregon's average throughout the 1990s (1.32% vs. 1.98%), recorded under Oregon's average in the 2000s (1.02% vs. 1.16%), led Oregon's average during the 2010s (1.11% vs. 1.02%), and trailed Oregon's average over the 2 year period of the current decade, 2020-2021 (-0.56% vs. 0.36%).

Finally, relative to nationwide population growth trends, Multnomah County lagged the nation over the 1970s (-0.04% vs. 1.10%), lagged the nation throughout the 1980s (0.36% vs. 0.95%), exceeded the nation over the 1990s (1.32% vs. 1.23%), outperformed the nation during the 2000s (1.02% vs. 0.95%), outperformed the nation over the 2010s (1.11% vs. 0.74%), and fell below the nation over 2020-2021 (-0.56% vs. 0.25%).