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 Woodbury County with comparisons to Iowa and the nation at large. This analysis features alternative approaches toward discussing, diagnosing and comparing Woodbury County vs. Iowa'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 Woodbury County's annual population for the period 1969-2022 to illustrate population patterns over time. During this 54-year period, Woodbury County's population rose from 102,963 in 1969 to 105,671 in 2022, for a net gain of 2,708, or 2.63%.

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 2 tracks Iowa's annual population for the period 1969-2022 to illustrate population patterns over time. During this 54-year period, Iowa's population rose from 2,805,000 in 1969 to 3,200,517 in 2022, for a net gain of 395,517, or 14.10%.

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 Woodbury County's population growth in a broader context by offering direct comparisons across time with Iowa, 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.

Woodbury County's overall population growth was 2.63% over 1969-2022 trailed Iowa's increase of 14.10%, and fell below the United States' increase of 65.57%.

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

In 1969, Woodbury County's population totaled 3.67% of Iowa's population, while in 2022 it comprised 3.30% thereby yielding a -0.37% share-shift.

Figure 5 shows the short-run pattern of Woodbury 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, Woodbury County's population grew at an annual rate of 0.05% over 1970-2022. The county posted its highest growth in 1993 (1.19%) and recorded its lowest growth in 1979 (-1.74%). In 2022, Woodbury County's population declined by -0.14%

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 traces the annual percent change in Woodbury 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, Woodbury County's annual population growth rate averaged -0.06%. It averaged -0.46% during the 1980s, 0.60% in the 1990s, -0.21% during the 2000s, 0.39% throughout the 2010s, 0.02% thus far this decade (2020-2022).

Figure 7 compares the decade average growth rates for Woodbury County noted in the previous graph with the corresponding decade averages for Iowa and the nation. As the chart reveals, Woodbury County's average annual population growth trailed Iowa's average during the 1970s (-0.06% vs. 0.39%), surpassed Iowa's average in the 1980s (-0.46% vs. -0.51%), outperformed Iowa's average in the 1990s (0.60% vs. 0.52%), amounted to less than Iowa's average during the 2000s (-0.21% vs. 0.39%), amounted to less than Iowa's average in the 2010s (0.39% vs. 0.49%), and fell below Iowa's average over the 3 year period of the current decade, 2020-2022 (0.02% vs. 0.17%).

Finally, relative to nationwide population growth trends, Woodbury County fell below the nation over the 1970s (-0.06% vs. 1.10%), fell below the nation throughout the 1980s (-0.46% vs. 0.95%), recorded underneath the nation during the 1990s (0.60% vs. 1.23%), fell under the nation in the 2000s (-0.21% vs. 0.95%), fell under the nation throughout the 2010s (0.39% vs. 0.74%), and posted below the nation over 2020-2022 (0.02% vs. 0.31%).