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 Monroe County with comparisons to New York and the nation at large. This analysis features alternative approaches toward discussing, diagnosing and comparing Monroe County vs. New York'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 Monroe County's annual population for the period 1969-2022 to illustrate population patterns over time. During this 54-year period, Monroe County's population rose from 700,384 in 1969 to 750,887 in 2022, for a net gain of 50,503, or 7.21%.

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 New York's annual population for the period 1969-2022 to illustrate population patterns over time. During this 54-year period, New York's population rose from 18,105,000 in 1969 to 19,673,200 in 2022, for a net gain of 1,568,200, or 8.66%.

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 Monroe County's population growth in a broader context by offering direct comparisons across time with New York, 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.

Monroe County's overall population growth was 7.21% over 1969-2022 trailed New York's increase of 8.66%, and fell below the United States' increase of 65.56%.

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

In 1969, Monroe County's population comprised 3.87% of New York's population, while in 2022 it totaled 3.82% thereby yielding a -0.05% share-shift.

Figure 5 shows the short-run pattern of Monroe 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, Monroe County's population grew at an annual rate of 0.13% over 1970-2022. The county posted its highest growth in 1970 (1.70%) and posted its lowest growth in 1984 (-0.85%). In 2022, Monroe County's population declined by -0.65%

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 Monroe 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, Monroe County's annual population growth rate averaged 0.02%. It averaged 0.13% in the 1980s, 0.31% in the 1990s, 0.13% in the 2000s, 0.21% throughout the 2010s, -0.37% thus far this decade (2020-2022).

Figure 7 compares the decade average growth rates for Monroe County noted in the previous graph with the corresponding decade averages for New York and the nation. As the chart reveals, Monroe County's average annual population growth topped New York's average throughout the 1970s (0.02% vs. -0.26%), recorded under New York's average throughout the 1980s (0.13% vs. 0.20%), lagged New York's average throughout the 1990s (0.31% vs. 0.49%), posted below New York's average throughout the 2000s (0.13% vs. 0.22%), recorded under New York's average throughout the 2010s (0.21% vs. 0.46%), and surpassed New York's average over the 3 year period of the current decade, 2020-2022 (-0.37% vs. -0.91%).

Finally, relative to nationwide population growth trends, Monroe County fell under the nation in the 1970s (0.02% vs. 1.10%), lagged the nation during the 1980s (0.13% vs. 0.95%), fell below the nation in the 1990s (0.31% vs. 1.23%), fell under the nation over the 2000s (0.13% vs. 0.95%), recorded underneath the nation during the 2010s (0.21% vs. 0.74%), and fell below the nation over 2020-2022 (-0.37% vs. 0.31%).