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 Harris County with comparisons to Texas and the nation at large. This analysis features alternative approaches toward discussing, diagnosing and comparing Harris 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 tracks Harris County's annual population for the period 1969-2022 to illustrate population patterns over time. During this 54-year period, Harris County's population rose from 1,709,436 in 1969 to 4,780,913 in 2022, for a net gain of 3,071,477, or 179.68%.

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 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 shows Harris 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.

Harris County's overall population growth was 179.68% over 1969-2022 outpaced Texas' increase of 171.88%, and topped the United States' increase of 65.57%.

Another interesting and insightful way of contrasting the population growth of Harris 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, Harris County's population totaled 15.48% of Texas' population, while in 2022 it comprised 15.92% thereby yielding a +0.44% share-shift.

Figure 5 displays the short-run pattern of Harris 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, Harris County's population grew at an annual rate of 1.97% over 1970-2022. The county recorded its highest growth in 1982 (5.89%) and recorded its lowest growth in 1987 (-1.30%). In 2022, Harris County's population grew by 0.96%

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 Harris 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 2020-2022.

During the 1970s, Harris County's annual population growth rate averaged 3.18%. It averaged 1.72% throughout the 1980s, 1.97% in the 1990s, 1.85% during the 2000s, 1.55% in the 2010s, 0.54% thus far this decade (2020-2022).

Figure 7 compares the decade average growth rates for Harris County noted in the previous graph with the corresponding decade averages for Texas and the nation. As the chart reveals, Harris County's average annual population growth recorded above Texas' average in the 1970s (3.18% vs. 2.32%), fell below Texas' average in the 1980s (1.72% vs. 1.93%), lagged Texas' average in the 1990s (1.97% vs. 2.04%), recorded under Texas' average during the 2000s (1.85% vs. 1.89%), outpaced Texas' average during the 2010s (1.55% vs. 1.53%), and recorded under Texas' average over the 3 year period of the current decade, 2020-2022 (0.54% vs. 1.34%).

Finally, relative to nationwide population growth trends, Harris County recorded above the nation in the 1970s (3.18% vs. 1.10%), outgained the nation in the 1980s (1.72% vs. 0.95%), topped the nation in the 1990s (1.97% vs. 1.23%), surpassed the nation throughout the 2000s (1.85% vs. 0.95%), recorded above the nation over the 2010s (1.55% vs. 0.74%), and exceeded the nation over 2020-2022 (0.54% vs. 0.31%).