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 Middlesex County with comparisons to Massachusetts and the nation at large. This analysis features alternative approaches toward discussing, diagnosing and comparing Middlesex 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 Middlesex County's annual population for the period 1969-2022 to illustrate population patterns over time. During this 54-year period, Middlesex County's population rose from 1,386,993 in 1969 to 1,616,794 in 2022, for a net gain of 229,801, or 16.57%.

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 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 6,982,740 in 2022, for a net gain of 1,332,740, or 23.59%.

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 Middlesex 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.

Middlesex County's overall population growth was 16.57% over 1969-2022 trailed Massachusetts' increase of 23.59%, and fell below the United States' increase of 65.56%.

Another interesting and insightful way of contrasting the population growth of Middlesex 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, Middlesex County's population totaled 24.55% of Massachusetts' population, while in 2022 it comprised 23.15% thereby yielding a -1.39% share-shift.

Figure 5 highlights the short-run pattern of Middlesex 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 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, Middlesex County's population grew at an annual rate of 0.29% over 1970-2022. The county posted its highest growth in 2012 (1.32%) and posted its lowest growth in 1974 (-1.18%). In 2022, Middlesex County's population declined by -0.03%

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 traces the annual percent change in Middlesex 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, Middlesex County's annual population growth rate averaged -0.11%. It averaged 0.21% during the 1980s, 0.42% during the 1990s, 0.24% throughout the 2000s, 0.88% in the 2010s, -0.29% thus far this decade (2020-2022).

Figure 7 compares the decade average growth rates for Middlesex County noted in the previous graph with the corresponding decade averages for Massachusetts and the nation. As the chart reveals, Middlesex County's average annual population growth lagged Massachusetts' average in the 1970s (-0.11% vs. 0.17%), fell below Massachusetts' average during the 1980s (0.21% vs. 0.46%), trailed Massachusetts' average throughout the 1990s (0.42% vs. 0.49%), posted below Massachusetts' average throughout the 2000s (0.24% vs. 0.31%), outperformed Massachusetts' average during the 2010s (0.88% vs. 0.74%), and amounted to less than Massachusetts' average over the 3 year period of the current decade, 2020-2022 (-0.29% vs. -0.16%).

Finally, relative to nationwide population growth trends, Middlesex County lagged the nation during the 1970s (-0.11% vs. 1.10%), recorded underneath the nation during the 1980s (0.21% vs. 0.95%), trailed the nation throughout the 1990s (0.42% vs. 1.23%), fell under the nation in the 2000s (0.24% vs. 0.95%), exceeded the nation during the 2010s (0.88% vs. 0.74%), and trailed the nation over 2020-2022 (-0.29% vs. 0.31%).