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 Richland County with comparisons to South Carolina and the nation at large. This analysis features alternative approaches toward discussing, diagnosing and comparing Richland 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 Richland County's annual population for the period 1969-2022 to illustrate population patterns over time. During this 54-year period, Richland County's population rose from 228,855 in 1969 to 421,566 in 2022, for a net gain of 192,711, or 84.21%.

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 traces 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 portrays Richland 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.

Richland County's overall population growth was 84.21% over 1969-2022 trailed South Carolina's increase of 105.55%, and outpaced the United States' increase of 65.57%.

Another interesting and insightful way of comparing the population growth of Richland County is to trace 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, Richland County's population totaled 8.90% of South Carolina's population, while in 2022 it totaled 7.98% thereby yielding a -0.92% share-shift.

Figure 5 displays the short-run pattern of Richland 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, Richland County's population grew at an annual rate of 1.16% over 1970-2022. The county posted its highest growth in 1974 (4.65%) and posted its lowest growth in 1975 (-0.70%). In 2022, Richland County's population grew by 1.06%

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 illustrates the annual percent change in Richland 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, Richland County's annual population growth rate averaged 1.59%. It averaged 0.60% in the 1980s, 1.14% during the 1990s, 1.80% in the 2000s, 0.87% in the 2010s, 0.56% thus far this decade (2020-2022).

Figure 7 compares the decade average growth rates for Richland County noted in the previous graph with the corresponding decade averages for South Carolina and the nation. As the chart reveals, Richland County's average annual population growth amounted to less than South Carolina's average in the 1970s (1.59% vs. 1.85%), trailed South Carolina's average throughout the 1980s (0.60% vs. 1.14%), recorded under South Carolina's average throughout the 1990s (1.14% vs. 1.41%), recorded above South Carolina's average in the 2000s (1.80% vs. 1.45%), amounted to less than South Carolina's average throughout the 2010s (0.87% vs. 1.02%), and posted below South Carolina's average over the 3 year period of the current decade, 2020-2022 (0.56% vs. 1.33%).

Finally, relative to nationwide population growth trends, Richland County registered above the nation over the 1970s (1.59% vs. 1.10%), fell below the nation during the 1980s (0.60% vs. 0.95%), recorded underneath the nation in the 1990s (1.14% vs. 1.23%), led the nation over the 2000s (1.80% vs. 0.95%), surpassed the nation in the 2010s (0.87% vs. 0.74%), and led the nation over 2020-2022 (0.56% vs. 0.31%).