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 Van Zandt County with comparisons to Texas and the nation at large. This analysis features alternative approaches toward discussing, diagnosing and comparing Van Zandt 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 Van Zandt County's annual population for the period 1969-2022 to illustrate population patterns over time. During this 54-year period, Van Zandt County's population rose from 22,472 in 1969 to 62,859 in 2022, for a net gain of 40,387, or 179.72%.

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 Van Zandt 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.

Van Zandt County's overall population growth was 179.72% 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 Van Zandt County is to trace 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, Van Zandt County's population totaled 0.20% of Texas' population, while in 2022 it equated to 0.21% thereby yielding a +0.01% share-shift.

Figure 5 displays the short-run pattern of Van Zandt 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, Van Zandt County's population grew at an annual rate of 1.97% over 1970-2022. The county posted its highest growth in 1971 (8.73%) and recorded its lowest growth in 1989 (-0.25%). In 2022, Van Zandt County's population grew by 2.71%

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 Van Zandt 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, Van Zandt County's annual population growth rate averaged 3.28%. It averaged 2.06% in the 1980s, 2.23% during the 1990s, 1.05% in the 2000s, 1.15% in the 2010s, 2.33% thus far this decade (2020-2022).

Figure 7 compares the decade average growth rates for Van Zandt County noted in the previous graph with the corresponding decade averages for Texas and the nation. As the chart reveals, Van Zandt County's average annual population growth outpaced Texas' average in the 1970s (3.28% vs. 2.32%), outgained Texas' average during the 1980s (2.06% vs. 1.93%), surpassed Texas' average in the 1990s (2.23% vs. 2.04%), posted below Texas' average throughout the 2000s (1.05% vs. 1.89%), trailed Texas' average throughout the 2010s (1.15% vs. 1.53%), and surpassed Texas' average over the 3 year period of the current decade, 2020-2022 (2.33% vs. 1.34%).

Finally, relative to nationwide population growth trends, Van Zandt County outgained the nation during the 1970s (3.28% vs. 1.10%), topped the nation in the 1980s (2.06% vs. 0.95%), outperformed the nation over the 1990s (2.23% vs. 1.23%), topped the nation over the 2000s (1.05% vs. 0.95%), outperformed the nation in the 2010s (1.15% vs. 0.74%), and recorded above the nation over 2020-2022 (2.33% vs. 0.31%).