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 Oklahoma County with comparisons to Oklahoma and the nation at large. This analysis features alternative approaches toward discussing, diagnosing and comparing Oklahoma County vs. Oklahoma'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 Oklahoma County's annual population for the period 1969-2022 to illustrate population patterns over time. During this 54-year period, Oklahoma County's population rose from 510,886 in 1969 to 802,559 in 2022, for a net gain of 291,673, or 57.09%.

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 Oklahoma's annual population for the period 1969-2022 to illustrate population patterns over time. During this 54-year period, Oklahoma's population rose from 2,535,000 in 1969 to 4,019,800 in 2022, for a net gain of 1,484,800, or 58.57%.

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 3 portrays Oklahoma County's population growth in a broader context by offering direct comparisons across time with Oklahoma, 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.

Oklahoma County's overall population growth was 57.09% over 1969-2022 trailed Oklahoma's increase of 58.57%, and fell below the United States' increase of 65.57%.

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

In 1969, Oklahoma County's population comprised 20.15% of Oklahoma's population, while in 2022 it comprised 19.97% thereby yielding a -0.19% share-shift.

Figure 5 displays the short-run pattern of Oklahoma 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, Oklahoma County's population grew at an annual rate of 0.86% over 1970-2022. The county posted its highest growth in 1970 (3.68%) and recorded its lowest growth in 1987 (-2.15%). In 2022, Oklahoma County's population grew by 0.37%

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 Oklahoma 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, Oklahoma County's annual population growth rate averaged 0.92%. It averaged 0.73% in the 1980s, 0.90% during the 1990s, 0.80% in the 2000s, 1.07% in the 2010s, 0.46% thus far this decade (2020-2022).

Figure 7 compares the decade average growth rates for Oklahoma County noted in the previous graph with the corresponding decade averages for Oklahoma and the nation. As the chart reveals, Oklahoma County's average annual population growth posted below Oklahoma's average throughout the 1970s (0.92% vs. 1.60%), exceeded Oklahoma's average throughout the 1980s (0.73% vs. 0.61%), recorded above Oklahoma's average throughout the 1990s (0.90% vs. 0.88%), recorded above Oklahoma's average in the 2000s (0.80% vs. 0.79%), led Oklahoma's average during the 2010s (1.07% vs. 0.59%), and fell below Oklahoma's average over the 3 year period of the current decade, 2020-2022 (0.46% vs. 0.64%).

Finally, relative to nationwide population growth trends, Oklahoma County recorded underneath the nation in the 1970s (0.92% vs. 1.10%), lagged the nation in the 1980s (0.73% vs. 0.95%), recorded underneath the nation throughout the 1990s (0.90% vs. 1.23%), fell below the nation over the 2000s (0.80% vs. 0.95%), led the nation over the 2010s (1.07% vs. 0.74%), and outgained the nation over 2020-2022 (0.46% vs. 0.31%).