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 Luzerne County with comparisons to Pennsylvania and the nation at large. This analysis features alternative approaches toward discussing, diagnosing and comparing Luzerne 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 tracks Luzerne County's annual population for the period 1969-2022 to illustrate population patterns over time. During this 54-year period, Luzerne County's population dropped from 342,597 in 1969 to 326,369 in 2022, for a net loss of -16,228, or -4.74%.

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 shows Luzerne 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.

Luzerne County's overall population growth was -4.74% 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 Luzerne County is to trace 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, Luzerne County's population totaled 2.92% of Pennsylvania's population, while in 2022 it equated to 2.52% thereby yielding a -0.40% share-shift.

Figure 5 highlights the short-run pattern of Luzerne 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, Luzerne County's population contracted at an annual rate of -0.09% over 1970-2022. The county recorded its highest growth in 1971 (1.24%) and posted its lowest growth in 1985 (-1.05%). In 2022, Luzerne County's population grew by 0.15%

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 Luzerne 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, Luzerne County's annual population growth rate averaged 0.09%. It averaged -0.51% in the 1980s, -0.23% during the 1990s, -0.01% in the 2000s, 0.14% throughout the 2010s, 0.15% thus far this decade (2020-2022).

Figure 7 compares the decade average growth rates for Luzerne County noted in the previous graph with the corresponding decade averages for Pennsylvania and the nation. As the chart reveals, Luzerne County's average annual population growth recorded under Pennsylvania's average in the 1970s (0.09% vs. 0.11%), recorded under Pennsylvania's average in the 1980s (-0.51% vs. -0.01%), lagged Pennsylvania's average during the 1990s (-0.23% vs. 0.33%), fell below Pennsylvania's average during the 2000s (-0.01% vs. 0.32%), recorded under Pennsylvania's average during the 2010s (0.14% vs. 0.25%), and exceeded Pennsylvania's average over the 3 year period of the current decade, 2020-2022 (0.15% vs. -0.05%).

Finally, relative to nationwide population growth trends, Luzerne County fell below the nation throughout the 1970s (0.09% vs. 1.10%), fell under the nation in the 1980s (-0.51% vs. 0.95%), fell under the nation in the 1990s (-0.23% vs. 1.23%), posted below the nation in the 2000s (-0.01% vs. 0.95%), fell under the nation during the 2010s (0.14% vs. 0.74%), and recorded underneath the nation over 2020-2022 (0.15% vs. 0.31%).