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 Clermont County, OH with comparisons to Kentucky and the nation at large. This analysis features alternative approaches toward discussing, diagnosing and comparing Clermont County, OH 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 traces Clermont County, OH's annual population for the period 1969-2022 to illustrate population patterns over time. During this 54-year period, Clermont County, OH's population rose from 96,202 in 1969 to 210,805 in 2022, for a net gain of 114,603, or 119.13%.

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 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.

Figure 3 portrays Clermont County, OH's population growth in a broader context by offering direct comparisons across time with Kentucky, 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.

Clermont County, OH's overall population growth was 119.13% over 1969-2022 outpaced Kentucky's increase of 41.10%, and topped the United States' increase of 65.57%.

Another interesting and insightful way of comparing the population growth of Clermont County, OH is to compare its individual percentage contributions to Kentucky's statewide population over time, as shown in Figure 4. 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, Clermont County, OH's population comprised 3.01% of Kentucky's population, while in 2022 it comprised 4.67% thereby yielding a +1.66% share-shift.

Figure 5 shows the short-run pattern of Clermont County, OH'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, Clermont County, OH's population grew at an annual rate of 1.50% over 1970-2022. Clermont County, OH posted its highest growth in 1975 (4.69%) and recorded its lowest growth in 1970 (-0.32%). In 2022, Clermont County, OH's population grew by 0.45%

Over the past five decades some external msa counties have experienced extreme swings in growth, and often such swings have tended to coincide with the decades themselves. Figure 6 again illustrates the annual percent change in Clermont County, OH'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, Clermont County, OH's annual population growth rate averaged 2.65%. It averaged 1.71% during the 1980s, 1.79% throughout the 1990s, 1.09% throughout the 2000s, 0.57% in the 2010s, 0.45% thus far this decade (2020-2022).

Figure 7 compares the decade average growth rates for Clermont County, OH noted in the previous graph with the corresponding decade averages for Kentucky and the nation. As the chart reveals, Clermont County, OH's average annual population growth topped Kentucky's average throughout the 1970s (2.65% vs. 1.31%), led Kentucky's average in the 1980s (1.71% vs. 0.09%), led Kentucky's average during the 1990s (1.79% vs. 0.89%), led Kentucky's average throughout the 2000s (1.09% vs. 0.72%), led Kentucky's average throughout the 2010s (0.57% vs. 0.41%), and outgained Kentucky's average over the 3 year period of the current decade, 2020-2022 (0.45% vs. 0.10%).

Finally, relative to nationwide population growth trends, Clermont County, OH led the nation in the 1970s (2.65% vs. 1.10%), recorded above the nation throughout the 1980s (1.71% vs. 0.95%), exceeded the nation throughout the 1990s (1.79% vs. 1.23%), surpassed the nation over the 2000s (1.09% vs. 0.95%), fell below the nation in the 2010s (0.57% vs. 0.74%), and led the nation over 2020-2022 (0.45% vs. 0.31%).