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 Washington County & Bristol City with comparisons to Virginia and the nation at large. This analysis features alternative approaches toward discussing, diagnosing and comparing Washington County & Bristol 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 Washington County & Bristol City's annual population for the period 1969-2022 to illustrate population patterns over time. During this 54-year period, Washington County & Bristol City's population rose from 55,916 in 1969 to 70,933 in 2022, for a net gain of 15,017, or 26.86%.

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 portrays Washington County & Bristol 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.

Washington County & Bristol City's overall population growth was 26.86% 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 highlighting the population growth of Washington County & Bristol City is to trace 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, Washington County & Bristol City's population comprised 1.21% of Virginia's population, while in 2022 it comprised 0.82% thereby yielding a -0.40% share-shift.

Figure 5 highlights the short-run pattern of Washington County & Bristol 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, Washington County & Bristol City's population grew at an annual rate of 0.45% over 1970-2022. Washington County & Bristol City posted its highest growth in 1971 (3.28%) and posted its lowest growth in 2013 (-0.81%). In 2022, Washington County & Bristol City's population grew by 0.06%

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 traces the annual percent change in Washington County & Bristol 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, Washington County & Bristol City's annual population growth rate averaged 1.50%. It averaged -0.10% in the 1980s, 0.63% during the 1990s, 0.60% during the 2000s, -0.22% in the 2010s, -0.02% thus far this decade (2020-2022).

Figure 7 compares the decade average growth rates for Washington County & Bristol City noted in the previous graph with the corresponding decade averages for Virginia and the nation. As the chart reveals, Washington County & Bristol City's average annual population growth exceeded Virginia's average throughout the 1970s (1.50% vs. 1.44%), posted below Virginia's average throughout the 1980s (-0.10% vs. 1.40%), posted below Virginia's average in the 1990s (0.63% vs. 1.35%), lagged Virginia's average during the 2000s (0.60% vs. 1.25%), fell below Virginia's average during the 2010s (-0.22% vs. 0.82%), and lagged Virginia's average over the 3 year period of the current decade, 2020-2022 (-0.02% vs. 0.33%).

Finally, relative to nationwide population growth trends, Washington County & Bristol City surpassed the nation over the 1970s (1.50% vs. 1.10%), lagged the nation over the 1980s (-0.10% vs. 0.95%), fell under the nation during the 1990s (0.63% vs. 1.23%), fell under the nation throughout the 2000s (0.60% vs. 0.95%), trailed the nation over the 2010s (-0.22% vs. 0.74%), and trailed the nation over 2020-2022 (-0.02% vs. 0.31%).