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 Watauga County with comparisons to North Carolina and the nation at large. This analysis features alternative approaches toward discussing, diagnosing and comparing Watauga County vs. North 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 traces Watauga County's annual population for the period 1969-2022 to illustrate population patterns over time. During this 54-year period, Watauga County's population rose from 22,665 in 1969 to 55,089 in 2022, for a net gain of 32,424, or 143.06%.

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 North Carolina's annual population for the period 1969-2022 to illustrate population patterns over time. During this 54-year period, North Carolina's population rose from 5,031,000 in 1969 to 10,698,973 in 2022, for a net gain of 5,667,973, or 112.66%.

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 Watauga County's population growth in a broader context by offering direct comparisons across time with North 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.

Watauga County's overall population growth was 143.06% over 1969-2022 outpaced North Carolina's increase of 112.66%, and topped the United States' increase of 65.57%.

Another interesting and insightful way of highlighting the population growth of Watauga County is to trace its individual percentage contributions to North 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 North Carolina's population, while a declining share shows it grew more slowly.

In 1969, Watauga County's population totaled 0.45% of North Carolina's population, while in 2022 it totaled 0.51% thereby yielding a +0.06% share-shift.

Figure 5 shows the short-run pattern of Watauga 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, Watauga County's population grew at an annual rate of 1.70% over 1970-2022. The county recorded its highest growth in 1974 (6.08%) and recorded its lowest growth in 1978 (-0.76%). In 2022, Watauga County's population grew by 0.23%

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 depicts the annual percent change in Watauga County'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, Watauga County's annual population growth rate averaged 3.23%. It averaged 1.70% throughout the 1980s, 1.45% throughout the 1990s, 1.81% in the 2000s, 0.66% in the 2010s, 0.59% thus far this decade (2020-2022).

Figure 7 compares the decade average growth rates for Watauga County noted in the previous graph with the corresponding decade averages for North Carolina and the nation. As the chart reveals, Watauga County's average annual population growth led North Carolina's average throughout the 1970s (3.23% vs. 1.44%), outgained North Carolina's average in the 1980s (1.70% vs. 1.24%), lagged North Carolina's average during the 1990s (1.45% vs. 1.93%), topped North Carolina's average in the 2000s (1.81% vs. 1.74%), amounted to less than North Carolina's average during the 2010s (0.66% vs. 0.93%), and fell below North Carolina's average over the 3 year period of the current decade, 2020-2022 (0.59% vs. 1.04%).

Finally, relative to nationwide population growth trends, Watauga County topped the nation in the 1970s (3.23% vs. 1.10%), topped the nation during the 1980s (1.70% vs. 0.95%), recorded above the nation during the 1990s (1.45% vs. 1.23%), led the nation in the 2000s (1.81% vs. 0.95%), posted below the nation over the 2010s (0.66% vs. 0.74%), and registered above the nation over 2020-2022 (0.59% vs. 0.31%).