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 Lander County with comparisons to Nevada and the nation at large. This analysis features alternative approaches toward discussing, diagnosing and comparing Lander County vs. Nevada's population growth over 1969-2017. 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 Lander County's annual population for the period 1969-2017 to illustrate population patterns over time. During this 49-year period, Lander County's population rose from 2,648 in 1969 to 5,693 in 2017, for a net gain of 3,045, or 115.0%.

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 Nevada's annual population for the period 1969-2017 to illustrate population patterns over time. During this 49-year period, Nevada's population rose from 480,000 in 1969 to 2,998,039 in 2017, for a net gain of 2,518,039, or 524.6%.

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

Lander County's overall population growth was 115.0% over 1969-2017 trailed Nevada's increase of 524.6%, and topped the United States' increase of 61.8%.

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

In 1969, Lander County's population comprised 0.55% of Nevada's population, while in 2017 it equated to 0.19% thereby yielding a -0.36% share-shift.

Figure 5 highlights the short-run pattern of Lander County's population growth by tracking the year-to-year percent change over 1970-2017. The average annual percent change for the entire 48-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, Lander County's population grew at an annual rate of 1.72% over 1970-2017. The county posted its highest growth in 1980 (16.21%) and posted its lowest growth in 2000 (-6.11%). In 2017, Lander County's population declined by -1.25%

Over the past four decades some counties have experienced extreme swings in growth, and often such swings have tended to coincide with the decades themselves. Figure 6 again shows the annual percent change in Lander County's population since 1970, but this time they are overlayed with average growth rates for the decade of the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, and 2010-2017.

During the 1970s, Lander County's annual population growth rate averaged 3.20%. It averaged 5.60% in the 1980s, 0.04% throughout the 1990s, -0.64% in the 2000s, and 0.09% thus far this decade (2010 to 2017).

Figure 7 compares the decade average growth rates for Lander County noted in the previous graph with the corresponding decade averages for Nevada and the nation. As the chart reveals, Lander County's average annual population growth amounted to less than Nevada's average in the 1970s (3.20% vs. 4.78%), surpassed Nevada's average during the 1980s (5.60% vs. 4.05%), posted below Nevada's average in the 1990s (0.04% vs. 5.46%), fell below Nevada's average in the 2000s (-0.64% vs. 3.33%), and trailed Nevada's average over the 8 year period of the last decade, 2010-2017 (0.09% vs. 1.39%).

Finally, relative to nationwide population growth trends, Lander County surpassed the nation in the 1970s (3.20% vs. 1.10%), exceeded the nation over the 1980s (5.60% vs. 0.95%), fell below the nation over the 1990s (0.04% vs. 1.23%), fell under the nation over the 2000s (-0.64% vs. 0.95%), and posted below the nation over 2010-2017 (0.09% vs. 0.75%).