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 Berkshire County with comparisons to Massachusetts and the nation at large. This analysis features alternative approaches toward discussing, diagnosing and comparing Berkshire County vs. Massachusetts' 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 Berkshire County's annual population for the period 1969-2022 to illustrate population patterns over time. During this 54-year period, Berkshire County's population dropped from 148,981 in 1969 to 127,859 in 2022, for a net loss of -21,122, or -14.18%.

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 Massachusetts' annual population for the period 1969-2022 to illustrate population patterns over time. During this 54-year period, Massachusetts' population rose from 5,650,000 in 1969 to 6,981,974 in 2022, for a net gain of 1,331,974, or 23.57%.

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

Berkshire County's overall population growth was -14.18% over 1969-2022 trailed Massachusetts' increase of 23.57%, and fell below the United States' increase of 65.57%.

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

In 1969, Berkshire County's population totaled 2.64% of Massachusetts' population, while in 2022 it comprised 1.83% thereby yielding a -0.81% share-shift.

Figure 5 highlights the short-run pattern of Berkshire 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, Berkshire County's population contracted at an annual rate of -0.29% over 1970-2022. The county posted its highest growth in 1978 (1.06%) and posted its lowest growth in 1982 (-1.71%). In 2022, Berkshire County's population declined by -0.59%

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 Berkshire 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, Berkshire County's annual population growth rate averaged -0.24%. It averaged -0.39% throughout the 1980s, -0.33% in the 1990s, -0.30% throughout the 2000s, -0.16% during the 2010s, -0.33% thus far this decade (2020-2022).

Figure 7 compares the decade average growth rates for Berkshire County noted in the previous graph with the corresponding decade averages for Massachusetts and the nation. As the chart reveals, Berkshire County's average annual population growth fell below Massachusetts' average throughout the 1970s (-0.24% vs. 0.17%), fell below Massachusetts' average throughout the 1980s (-0.39% vs. 0.46%), trailed Massachusetts' average throughout the 1990s (-0.33% vs. 0.49%), amounted to less than Massachusetts' average in the 2000s (-0.30% vs. 0.31%), fell below Massachusetts' average during the 2010s (-0.16% vs. 0.74%), and recorded under Massachusetts' average over the 3 year period of the current decade, 2020-2022 (-0.33% vs. -0.16%).

Finally, relative to nationwide population growth trends, Berkshire County recorded underneath the nation in the 1970s (-0.24% vs. 1.10%), fell under the nation over the 1980s (-0.39% vs. 0.95%), recorded underneath the nation over the 1990s (-0.33% vs. 1.23%), recorded underneath the nation throughout the 2000s (-0.30% vs. 0.95%), fell under the nation in the 2010s (-0.16% vs. 0.74%), and fell below the nation over 2020-2022 (-0.33% vs. 0.31%).