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 Crawford County with comparisons to Pennsylvania and the nation at large. This analysis features alternative approaches toward discussing, diagnosing and comparing Crawford County vs. Pennsylvania'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 Crawford County's annual population for the period 1969-2022 to illustrate population patterns over time. During this 54-year period, Crawford County's population rose from 81,007 in 1969 to 82,670 in 2022, for a net gain of 1,663, or 2.05%.

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 Pennsylvania's annual population for the period 1969-2022 to illustrate population patterns over time. During this 54-year period, Pennsylvania's population rose from 11,741,000 in 1969 to 12,972,008 in 2022, for a net gain of 1,231,008, or 10.48%.

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

Crawford County's overall population growth was 2.05% over 1969-2022 trailed Pennsylvania's increase of 10.48%, and fell below the United States' increase of 65.57%.

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

In 1969, Crawford County's population comprised 0.69% of Pennsylvania's population, while in 2022 it comprised 0.64% thereby yielding a -0.05% share-shift.

Figure 5 highlights the short-run pattern of Crawford 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, Crawford County's population grew at an annual rate of 0.04% over 1970-2022. The county recorded its highest growth in 1971 (2.05%) and recorded its lowest growth in 1985 (-1.37%). In 2022, Crawford County's population declined by -0.64%

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 Crawford 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, Crawford County's annual population growth rate averaged 0.84%. It averaged -0.22% during the 1980s, 0.45% throughout the 1990s, -0.12% in the 2000s, -0.52% throughout the 2010s, -0.72% thus far this decade (2020-2022).

Figure 7 compares the decade average growth rates for Crawford County noted in the previous graph with the corresponding decade averages for Pennsylvania and the nation. As the chart reveals, Crawford County's average annual population growth registered above Pennsylvania's average during the 1970s (0.84% vs. 0.11%), amounted to less than Pennsylvania's average throughout the 1980s (-0.22% vs. -0.01%), registered above Pennsylvania's average in the 1990s (0.45% vs. 0.33%), amounted to less than Pennsylvania's average throughout the 2000s (-0.12% vs. 0.32%), recorded under Pennsylvania's average during the 2010s (-0.52% vs. 0.25%), and recorded under Pennsylvania's average over the 3 year period of the current decade, 2020-2022 (-0.72% vs. -0.05%).

Finally, relative to nationwide population growth trends, Crawford County recorded underneath the nation during the 1970s (0.84% vs. 1.10%), recorded underneath the nation over the 1980s (-0.22% vs. 0.95%), fell under the nation in the 1990s (0.45% vs. 1.23%), fell under the nation during the 2000s (-0.12% vs. 0.95%), fell below the nation in the 2010s (-0.52% vs. 0.74%), and fell under the nation over 2020-2022 (-0.72% vs. 0.31%).