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 Lincoln County with comparisons to Colorado and the nation at large. This analysis features alternative approaches toward discussing, diagnosing and comparing Lincoln County vs. Colorado'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 Lincoln County's annual population for the period 1969-2022 to illustrate population patterns over time. During this 54-year period, Lincoln County's population rose from 4,674 in 1969 to 5,510 in 2022, for a net gain of 836, or 17.89%.

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 Colorado's annual population for the period 1969-2022 to illustrate population patterns over time. During this 54-year period, Colorado's population rose from 2,166,000 in 1969 to 5,839,926 in 2022, for a net gain of 3,673,926, or 169.62%.

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

Lincoln County's overall population growth was 17.89% over 1969-2022 trailed Colorado's increase of 169.62%, and fell below the United States' increase of 65.57%.

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

In 1969, Lincoln County's population comprised 0.22% of Colorado's population, while in 2022 it totaled 0.09% thereby yielding a -0.12% share-shift.

Figure 5 highlights the short-run pattern of Lincoln 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, Lincoln County's population grew at an annual rate of 0.35% over 1970-2022. The county posted its highest growth in 1991 (11.85%) and recorded its lowest growth in 1978 (-4.05%). In 2022, Lincoln County's population grew by 0.60%

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 shows the annual percent change in Lincoln 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, Lincoln County's annual population growth rate averaged -0.22%. It averaged 0.13% in the 1980s, 2.92% throughout the 1990s, -1.16% throughout the 2000s, 0.47% in the 2010s, -1.01% thus far this decade (2020-2022).

Figure 7 compares the decade average growth rates for Lincoln County noted in the previous graph with the corresponding decade averages for Colorado and the nation. As the chart reveals, Lincoln County's average annual population growth trailed Colorado's average throughout the 1970s (-0.22% vs. 2.78%), amounted to less than Colorado's average during the 1980s (0.13% vs. 1.41%), registered above Colorado's average in the 1990s (2.92% vs. 2.58%), lagged Colorado's average throughout the 2000s (-1.16% vs. 1.64%), lagged Colorado's average during the 2010s (0.47% vs. 1.44%), and recorded under Colorado's average over the 3 year period of the current decade, 2020-2022 (-1.01% vs. 0.60%).

Finally, relative to nationwide population growth trends, Lincoln County posted below the nation in the 1970s (-0.22% vs. 1.10%), trailed the nation over the 1980s (0.13% vs. 0.95%), outpaced the nation in the 1990s (2.92% vs. 1.23%), posted below the nation throughout the 2000s (-1.16% vs. 0.95%), fell under the nation in the 2010s (0.47% vs. 0.74%), and posted below the nation over 2020-2022 (-1.01% vs. 0.31%).