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 Winnebago County with comparisons to Illinois and the nation at large. This analysis features alternative approaches toward discussing, diagnosing and comparing Winnebago County vs. Illinois' 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 Winnebago County's annual population for the period 1969-2022 to illustrate population patterns over time. During this 54-year period, Winnebago County's population rose from 243,562 in 1969 to 282,188 in 2022, for a net gain of 38,626, or 15.86%.

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 Illinois' annual population for the period 1969-2022 to illustrate population patterns over time. During this 54-year period, Illinois' population rose from 11,039,000 in 1969 to 12,582,032 in 2022, for a net gain of 1,543,032, or 13.98%.

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

Winnebago County's overall population growth was 15.86% over 1969-2022 outpaced Illinois' increase of 13.98%, and fell below the United States' increase of 65.57%.

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

In 1969, Winnebago County's population totaled 2.21% of Illinois' population, while in 2022 it equated to 2.24% thereby yielding a +0.04% share-shift.

Figure 5 displays the short-run pattern of Winnebago 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, Winnebago County's population grew at an annual rate of 0.28% over 1970-2022. The county posted its highest growth in 1991 (1.72%) and posted its lowest growth in 1982 (-0.68%). In 2022, Winnebago County's population declined by -0.48%

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 depicts the annual percent change in Winnebago 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, Winnebago County's annual population growth rate averaged 0.17%. It averaged 0.14% in the 1980s, 0.97% during the 1990s, 0.66% in the 2000s, -0.34% in the 2010s, -0.42% thus far this decade (2020-2022).

Figure 7 compares the decade average growth rates for Winnebago County noted in the previous graph with the corresponding decade averages for Illinois and the nation. As the chart reveals, Winnebago County's average annual population growth fell below Illinois' average in the 1970s (0.17% vs. 0.34%), led Illinois' average throughout the 1980s (0.14% vs. -0.01%), topped Illinois' average in the 1990s (0.97% vs. 0.80%), outpaced Illinois' average during the 2000s (0.66% vs. 0.35%), trailed Illinois' average during the 2010s (-0.34% vs. 0.04%), and recorded above Illinois' average over the 3 year period of the current decade, 2020-2022 (-0.42% vs. -0.70%).

Finally, relative to nationwide population growth trends, Winnebago County fell under the nation during the 1970s (0.17% vs. 1.10%), recorded underneath the nation over the 1980s (0.14% vs. 0.95%), recorded underneath the nation throughout the 1990s (0.97% vs. 1.23%), fell below the nation over the 2000s (0.66% vs. 0.95%), fell under the nation during the 2010s (-0.34% vs. 0.74%), and recorded underneath the nation over 2020-2022 (-0.42% vs. 0.31%).