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 Santa Cruz County with comparisons to Arizona and the nation at large. This analysis features alternative approaches toward discussing, diagnosing and comparing Santa Cruz County vs. Arizona'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 Santa Cruz County's annual population for the period 1969-2022 to illustrate population patterns over time. During this 54-year period, Santa Cruz County's population rose from 13,700 in 1969 to 48,759 in 2022, for a net gain of 35,059, or 255.91%.

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 Arizona's annual population for the period 1969-2022 to illustrate population patterns over time. During this 54-year period, Arizona's population rose from 1,737,000 in 1969 to 7,359,197 in 2022, for a net gain of 5,622,197, or 323.67%.

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 Santa Cruz County's population growth in a broader context by offering direct comparisons across time with Arizona, 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.

Santa Cruz County's overall population growth was 255.91% over 1969-2022 trailed Arizona's increase of 323.67%, and topped the United States' increase of 65.57%.

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

In 1969, Santa Cruz County's population comprised 0.79% of Arizona's population, while in 2022 it totaled 0.66% thereby yielding a -0.13% share-shift.

Figure 5 shows the short-run pattern of Santa Cruz 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, Santa Cruz County's population grew at an annual rate of 2.44% over 1970-2022. The county recorded its highest growth in 1989 (7.13%) and posted its lowest growth in 1975 (-1.50%). In 2022, Santa Cruz County's population grew by 1.51%

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 Santa Cruz 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, Santa Cruz County's annual population growth rate averaged 3.70%. It averaged 3.91% in the 1980s, 2.74% in the 1990s, 2.23% during the 2000s, 0.09% during the 2010s, 0.91% thus far this decade (2020-2022).

Figure 7 compares the decade average growth rates for Santa Cruz County noted in the previous graph with the corresponding decade averages for Arizona and the nation. As the chart reveals, Santa Cruz County's average annual population growth fell below Arizona's average throughout the 1970s (3.70% vs. 4.28%), led Arizona's average in the 1980s (3.91% vs. 3.22%), trailed Arizona's average throughout the 1990s (2.74% vs. 3.33%), posted below Arizona's average throughout the 2000s (2.23% vs. 2.36%), lagged Arizona's average during the 2010s (0.09% vs. 1.09%), and posted below Arizona's average over the 3 year period of the current decade, 2020-2022 (0.91% vs. 1.34%).

Finally, relative to nationwide population growth trends, Santa Cruz County recorded above the nation during the 1970s (3.70% vs. 1.10%), recorded above the nation throughout the 1980s (3.91% vs. 0.95%), exceeded the nation during the 1990s (2.74% vs. 1.23%), topped the nation during the 2000s (2.23% vs. 0.95%), posted below the nation over the 2010s (0.09% vs. 0.74%), and topped the nation over 2020-2022 (0.91% vs. 0.31%).