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 Philadelphia County with comparisons to Pennsylvania and the nation at large. This analysis features alternative approaches toward discussing, diagnosing and comparing Philadelphia 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 Philadelphia County's annual population for the period 1969-2022 to illustrate population patterns over time. During this 54-year period, Philadelphia County's population dropped from 1,953,285 in 1969 to 1,567,258 in 2022, for a net loss of -386,027, or -19.76%.

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 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 Philadelphia 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.

Philadelphia County's overall population growth was -19.76% 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 comparing the population growth of Philadelphia 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, Philadelphia County's population totaled 16.64% of Pennsylvania's population, while in 2022 it equated to 12.08% thereby yielding a -4.55% share-shift.

Figure 5 shows the short-run pattern of Philadelphia 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, Philadelphia County's population contracted at an annual rate of -0.41% over 1970-2022. The county posted its highest growth in 2009 (1.00%) and recorded its lowest growth in 1973 (-2.30%). In 2022, Philadelphia County's population declined by -1.40%

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 Philadelphia 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, Philadelphia County's annual population growth rate averaged -1.31%. It averaged -0.62% throughout the 1980s, -0.56% throughout the 1990s, -0.03% in the 2000s, 0.59% during the 2010s, -0.80% thus far this decade (2020-2022).

Figure 7 compares the decade average growth rates for Philadelphia County noted in the previous graph with the corresponding decade averages for Pennsylvania and the nation. As the chart reveals, Philadelphia County's average annual population growth posted below Pennsylvania's average in the 1970s (-1.31% vs. 0.11%), trailed Pennsylvania's average in the 1980s (-0.62% vs. -0.01%), trailed Pennsylvania's average in the 1990s (-0.56% vs. 0.33%), trailed Pennsylvania's average in the 2000s (-0.03% vs. 0.32%), topped Pennsylvania's average during the 2010s (0.59% vs. 0.25%), and lagged Pennsylvania's average over the 3 year period of the current decade, 2020-2022 (-0.80% vs. -0.05%).

Finally, relative to nationwide population growth trends, Philadelphia County lagged the nation during the 1970s (-1.31% vs. 1.10%), fell under the nation in the 1980s (-0.62% vs. 0.95%), posted below the nation during the 1990s (-0.56% vs. 1.23%), trailed the nation during the 2000s (-0.03% vs. 0.95%), fell below the nation throughout the 2010s (0.59% vs. 0.74%), and lagged the nation over 2020-2022 (-0.80% vs. 0.31%).