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 Horry County with comparisons to South Carolina and the nation at large. This analysis features alternative approaches toward discussing, diagnosing and comparing Horry County vs. South Carolina'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 Horry County's annual population for the period 1969-2022 to illustrate population patterns over time. During this 54-year period, Horry County's population rose from 69,187 in 1969 to 383,101 in 2022, for a net gain of 313,914, or 453.72%.

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 South Carolina's annual population for the period 1969-2022 to illustrate population patterns over time. During this 54-year period, South Carolina's population rose from 2,570,000 in 1969 to 5,282,634 in 2022, for a net gain of 2,712,634, or 105.55%.

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 Horry County's population growth in a broader context by offering direct comparisons across time with South Carolina, 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.

Horry County's overall population growth was 453.72% over 1969-2022 outpaced South Carolina's increase of 105.55%, and outpaced the United States' increase of 65.57%.

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

In 1969, Horry County's population totaled 2.69% of South Carolina's population, while in 2022 it equated to 7.25% thereby yielding a +4.56% share-shift.

Figure 5 shows the short-run pattern of Horry 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, Horry County's population grew at an annual rate of 3.29% over 1970-2022. The county posted its highest growth in 1971 (6.38%) and posted its lowest growth in 1993 (-1.33%). In 2022, Horry County's population grew by 4.67%

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 shows the annual percent change in Horry 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, Horry County's annual population growth rate averaged 3.70%. It averaged 3.53% throughout the 1980s, 3.17% throughout the 1990s, 3.32% throughout the 2000s, 2.61% in the 2010s, 3.68% thus far this decade (2020-2022).

Figure 7 compares the decade average growth rates for Horry County noted in the previous graph with the corresponding decade averages for South Carolina and the nation. As the chart reveals, Horry County's average annual population growth recorded above South Carolina's average during the 1970s (3.70% vs. 1.85%), exceeded South Carolina's average during the 1980s (3.53% vs. 1.14%), outpaced South Carolina's average during the 1990s (3.17% vs. 1.41%), registered above South Carolina's average throughout the 2000s (3.32% vs. 1.45%), surpassed South Carolina's average throughout the 2010s (2.61% vs. 1.02%), and recorded above South Carolina's average over the 3 year period of the current decade, 2020-2022 (3.68% vs. 1.33%).

Finally, relative to nationwide population growth trends, Horry County exceeded the nation during the 1970s (3.70% vs. 1.10%), registered above the nation during the 1980s (3.53% vs. 0.95%), registered above the nation over the 1990s (3.17% vs. 1.23%), topped the nation during the 2000s (3.32% vs. 0.95%), registered above the nation over the 2010s (2.61% vs. 0.74%), and outperformed the nation over 2020-2022 (3.68% vs. 0.31%).