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 Umatilla County with comparisons to Oregon and the nation at large. This analysis features alternative approaches toward discussing, diagnosing and comparing Umatilla 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 traces Umatilla County's annual population for the period 1969-2022 to illustrate population patterns over time. During this 54-year period, Umatilla County's population rose from 44,513 in 1969 to 80,215 in 2022, for a net gain of 35,702, or 80.21%.

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 Umatilla 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.

Umatilla County's overall population growth was 80.21% over 1969-2022 trailed Oregon's increase of 105.63%, and outpaced the United States' increase of 65.57%.

Another interesting and insightful way of highlighting the population growth of Umatilla 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, Umatilla County's population comprised 2.16% of Oregon's population, while in 2022 it equated to 1.89% thereby yielding a -0.27% share-shift.

Figure 5 displays the short-run pattern of Umatilla 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, Umatilla County's population grew at an annual rate of 1.13% over 1970-2022. The county recorded its highest growth in 1976 (4.91%) and recorded its lowest growth in 1985 (-1.04%). In 2022, Umatilla County's population grew by 0.08%

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 illustrates the annual percent change in Umatilla 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, Umatilla County's annual population growth rate averaged 2.59%. It averaged 0.30% in the 1980s, 1.69% throughout the 1990s, 0.74% throughout the 2000s, 0.59% throughout the 2010s, 0.18% thus far this decade (2020-2022).

Figure 7 compares the decade average growth rates for Umatilla County noted in the previous graph with the corresponding decade averages for Oregon and the nation. As the chart reveals, Umatilla County's average annual population growth registered above Oregon's average in the 1970s (2.59% vs. 2.26%), posted below Oregon's average throughout the 1980s (0.30% vs. 0.80%), posted below Oregon's average throughout the 1990s (1.69% vs. 1.98%), recorded under Oregon's average in the 2000s (0.74% vs. 1.16%), recorded under Oregon's average during the 2010s (0.59% vs. 1.02%), and posted below Oregon's average over the 3 year period of the current decade, 2020-2022 (0.18% vs. 0.19%).

Finally, relative to nationwide population growth trends, Umatilla County surpassed the nation in the 1970s (2.59% vs. 1.10%), lagged the nation throughout the 1980s (0.30% vs. 0.95%), topped the nation over the 1990s (1.69% vs. 1.23%), fell under the nation in the 2000s (0.74% vs. 0.95%), recorded underneath the nation over the 2010s (0.59% vs. 0.74%), and lagged the nation over 2020-2022 (0.18% vs. 0.31%).