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 Trigg County with comparisons to Kentucky and the nation at large. This analysis features alternative approaches toward discussing, diagnosing and comparing Trigg County vs. Kentucky'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 Trigg County's annual population for the period 1969-2022 to illustrate population patterns over time. During this 54-year period, Trigg County's population rose from 8,638 in 1969 to 14,332 in 2022, for a net gain of 5,694, or 65.92%.

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 Kentucky's annual population for the period 1969-2022 to illustrate population patterns over time. During this 54-year period, Kentucky's population rose from 3,198,000 in 1969 to 4,512,310 in 2022, for a net gain of 1,314,310, or 41.10%.

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.

Another interesting and insightful way of comparing the population growth of Trigg County is to trace its individual percentage contributions to Kentucky's statewide population over time, as shown in Figure 3. A rising share means a region's population grew faster, or declined less, than Kentucky's population, while a declining share shows it grew more slowly.

In 1969, Trigg County's population totaled 0.27% of Kentucky's population, while in 2022 it equated to 0.32% thereby yielding a +0.05% share-shift.

Figure 4 displays the short-run pattern of Trigg 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 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, Trigg County's population grew at an annual rate of 0.97% over 1970-2022. The county recorded its highest growth in 1985 (3.82%) and posted its lowest growth in 2014 (-1.68%). In 2022, Trigg County's population grew by 0.92%

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 5 again illustrates the annual percent change in Trigg 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, Trigg County's annual population growth rate averaged 1.00%. It averaged 0.82% in the 1980s, 1.85% in the 1990s, 1.38% during the 2000s, -0.13% throughout the 2010s, 0.70% thus far this decade (2020-2022).