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 Lorain County with comparisons to Ohio and the nation at large. This analysis features alternative approaches toward discussing, diagnosing and comparing Lorain County vs. Ohio'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 Lorain County's annual population for the period 1969-2022 to illustrate population patterns over time. During this 54-year period, Lorain County's population rose from 254,074 in 1969 to 316,268 in 2022, for a net gain of 62,194, or 24.48%.

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 Ohio's annual population for the period 1969-2022 to illustrate population patterns over time. During this 54-year period, Ohio's population rose from 10,563,000 in 1969 to 11,756,058 in 2022, for a net gain of 1,193,058, or 11.29%.

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

Lorain County's overall population growth was 24.48% over 1969-2022 outpaced Ohio's increase of 11.29%, and fell below the United States' increase of 65.57%.

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

In 1969, Lorain County's population comprised 2.41% of Ohio's population, while in 2022 it equated to 2.69% thereby yielding a +0.28% share-shift.

Figure 5 shows the short-run pattern of Lorain 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, Lorain County's population grew at an annual rate of 0.42% over 1970-2022. The county posted its highest growth in 1977 (2.19%) and recorded its lowest growth in 1976 (-1.27%). In 2022, Lorain County's population grew by 0.67%

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 Lorain 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, Lorain County's annual population growth rate averaged 0.73%. It averaged -0.10% in the 1980s, 0.48% throughout the 1990s, 0.60% during the 2000s, 0.34% during the 2010s, 0.53% thus far this decade (2020-2022).

Figure 7 compares the decade average growth rates for Lorain County noted in the previous graph with the corresponding decade averages for Ohio and the nation. As the chart reveals, Lorain County's average annual population growth exceeded Ohio's average during the 1970s (0.73% vs. 0.22%), posted below Ohio's average throughout the 1980s (-0.10% vs. 0.03%), recorded above Ohio's average in the 1990s (0.48% vs. 0.46%), outperformed Ohio's average in the 2000s (0.60% vs. 0.17%), recorded above Ohio's average throughout the 2010s (0.34% vs. 0.22%), and surpassed Ohio's average over the 3 year period of the current decade, 2020-2022 (0.53% vs. -0.09%).

Finally, relative to nationwide population growth trends, Lorain County recorded underneath the nation in the 1970s (0.73% vs. 1.10%), fell under the nation in the 1980s (-0.10% vs. 0.95%), posted below the nation in the 1990s (0.48% vs. 1.23%), recorded underneath the nation throughout the 2000s (0.60% vs. 0.95%), posted below the nation during the 2010s (0.34% vs. 0.74%), and topped the nation over 2020-2022 (0.53% vs. 0.31%).