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 Fort Bend County with comparisons to Texas and the nation at large. This analysis features alternative approaches toward discussing, diagnosing and comparing Fort Bend County vs. Texas' 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 Fort Bend County's annual population for the period 1969-2022 to illustrate population patterns over time. During this 54-year period, Fort Bend County's population rose from 53,265 in 1969 to 889,146 in 2022, for a net gain of 835,881, or 1,569.29%.

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 traces Texas' annual population for the period 1969-2022 to illustrate population patterns over time. During this 54-year period, Texas' population rose from 11,045,000 in 1969 to 30,029,572 in 2022, for a net gain of 18,984,572, or 171.88%.

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 Fort Bend County's population growth in a broader context by offering direct comparisons across time with Texas, 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.

Fort Bend County's overall population growth was 1,569.29% over 1969-2022 outpaced Texas' increase of 171.88%, and outpaced the United States' increase of 65.57%.

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

In 1969, Fort Bend County's population comprised 0.48% of Texas' population, while in 2022 it equated to 2.96% thereby yielding a +2.48% share-shift.

Figure 5 highlights the short-run pattern of Fort Bend 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, Fort Bend County's population grew at an annual rate of 5.49% over 1970-2022. The county recorded its highest growth in 1973 (13.93%) and posted its lowest growth in 1970 (-0.70%). In 2022, Fort Bend County's population grew by 3.37%

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 Fort Bend 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, Fort Bend County's annual population growth rate averaged 8.41%. It averaged 6.15% during the 1980s, 4.83% during the 1990s, 5.18% during the 2000s, 3.51% throughout the 2010s, 3.45% thus far this decade (2020-2022).

Figure 7 compares the decade average growth rates for Fort Bend County noted in the previous graph with the corresponding decade averages for Texas and the nation. As the chart reveals, Fort Bend County's average annual population growth led Texas' average during the 1970s (8.41% vs. 2.32%), outperformed Texas' average in the 1980s (6.15% vs. 1.93%), outpaced Texas' average throughout the 1990s (4.83% vs. 2.04%), outpaced Texas' average throughout the 2000s (5.18% vs. 1.89%), recorded above Texas' average during the 2010s (3.51% vs. 1.53%), and topped Texas' average over the 3 year period of the current decade, 2020-2022 (3.45% vs. 1.34%).

Finally, relative to nationwide population growth trends, Fort Bend County exceeded the nation over the 1970s (8.41% vs. 1.10%), surpassed the nation over the 1980s (6.15% vs. 0.95%), outpaced the nation in the 1990s (4.83% vs. 1.23%), outpaced the nation throughout the 2000s (5.18% vs. 0.95%), led the nation during the 2010s (3.51% vs. 0.74%), and registered above the nation over 2020-2022 (3.45% vs. 0.31%).