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 Cumberland County with comparisons to Virginia and the nation at large. This analysis features alternative approaches toward discussing, diagnosing and comparing Cumberland County vs. Virginia'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 Cumberland County's annual population for the period 1969-2022 to illustrate population patterns over time. During this 54-year period, Cumberland County's population rose from 6,202 in 1969 to 9,746 in 2022, for a net gain of 3,544, or 57.14%.

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 Virginia's annual population for the period 1969-2022 to illustrate population patterns over time. During this 54-year period, Virginia's population rose from 4,614,000 in 1969 to 8,683,619 in 2022, for a net gain of 4,069,619, or 88.20%.

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

Cumberland County's overall population growth was 57.14% over 1969-2022 trailed Virginia's increase of 88.20%, and fell below the United States' increase of 65.57%.

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

In 1969, Cumberland County's population comprised 0.13% of Virginia's population, while in 2022 it comprised 0.11% thereby yielding a -0.02% share-shift.

Figure 5 shows the short-run pattern of Cumberland 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, Cumberland County's population grew at an annual rate of 0.87% over 1970-2022. The county recorded its highest growth in 1973 (6.58%) and posted its lowest growth in 2012 (-1.70%). In 2022, Cumberland County's population grew by 0.52%

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 depicts the annual percent change in Cumberland 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, Cumberland County's annual population growth rate averaged 2.09%. It averaged 0.28% during the 1980s, 1.35% during the 1990s, 1.15% throughout the 2000s, -0.29% in the 2010s, 0.09% thus far this decade (2020-2022).

Figure 7 compares the decade average growth rates for Cumberland County noted in the previous graph with the corresponding decade averages for Virginia and the nation. As the chart reveals, Cumberland County's average annual population growth topped Virginia's average throughout the 1970s (2.09% vs. 1.44%), amounted to less than Virginia's average throughout the 1980s (0.28% vs. 1.40%), fell below Virginia's average during the 1990s (1.35% vs. 1.35%), fell below Virginia's average throughout the 2000s (1.15% vs. 1.25%), lagged Virginia's average during the 2010s (-0.29% vs. 0.82%), and trailed Virginia's average over the 3 year period of the current decade, 2020-2022 (0.09% vs. 0.33%).

Finally, relative to nationwide population growth trends, Cumberland County led the nation in the 1970s (2.09% vs. 1.10%), posted below the nation throughout the 1980s (0.28% vs. 0.95%), exceeded the nation in the 1990s (1.35% vs. 1.23%), surpassed the nation in the 2000s (1.15% vs. 0.95%), lagged the nation during the 2010s (-0.29% vs. 0.74%), and trailed the nation over 2020-2022 (0.09% vs. 0.31%).