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 Montgomery County & Radford City with comparisons to Virginia and the nation at large. This analysis features alternative approaches toward discussing, diagnosing and comparing Montgomery County & Radford City 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 tracks Montgomery County & Radford City's annual population for the period 1969-2022 to illustrate population patterns over time. During this 54-year period, Montgomery County & Radford City's population rose from 57,716 in 1969 to 115,653 in 2022, for a net gain of 57,937, or 100.38%.

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 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 portrays Montgomery County & Radford City'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.

Montgomery County & Radford City's overall population growth was 100.38% over 1969-2022 outpaced Virginia's increase of 88.20%, and topped the United States' increase of 65.57%.

Another interesting and insightful way of comparing the population growth of Montgomery County & Radford City 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, Montgomery County & Radford City's population comprised 1.25% of Virginia's population, while in 2022 it totaled 1.33% thereby yielding a +0.08% share-shift.

Figure 5 displays the short-run pattern of Montgomery County & Radford City'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, Montgomery County & Radford City's population grew at an annual rate of 1.33% over 1970-2022. Montgomery County & Radford City posted its highest growth in 1974 (4.86%) and recorded its lowest growth in 2020 (-0.35%). In 2022, Montgomery County & Radford City's population grew by 0.24%

Over the past five decades some county/independent city rollups 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 Montgomery County & Radford City'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, Montgomery County & Radford City's annual population growth rate averaged 2.78%. It averaged 1.54% during the 1980s, 1.16% in the 1990s, 1.06% throughout the 2000s, 0.53% throughout the 2010s, -0.13% thus far this decade (2020-2022).

Figure 7 compares the decade average growth rates for Montgomery County & Radford City noted in the previous graph with the corresponding decade averages for Virginia and the nation. As the chart reveals, Montgomery County & Radford City's average annual population growth registered above Virginia's average in the 1970s (2.78% vs. 1.44%), topped Virginia's average throughout the 1980s (1.54% vs. 1.40%), lagged Virginia's average in the 1990s (1.16% vs. 1.35%), amounted to less than Virginia's average during the 2000s (1.06% vs. 1.25%), lagged Virginia's average during the 2010s (0.53% vs. 0.82%), and amounted to less than Virginia's average over the 3 year period of the current decade, 2020-2022 (-0.13% vs. 0.33%).

Finally, relative to nationwide population growth trends, Montgomery County & Radford City surpassed the nation throughout the 1970s (2.78% vs. 1.10%), surpassed the nation throughout the 1980s (1.54% vs. 0.95%), lagged the nation over the 1990s (1.16% vs. 1.23%), recorded above the nation throughout the 2000s (1.06% vs. 0.95%), fell below the nation in the 2010s (0.53% vs. 0.74%), and posted below the nation over 2020-2022 (-0.13% vs. 0.31%).