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 Tolland County with comparisons to Connecticut and the nation at large. This analysis features alternative approaches toward discussing, diagnosing and comparing Tolland County vs. Connecticut'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 Tolland County's annual population for the period 1969-2022 to illustrate population patterns over time. During this 54-year period, Tolland County's population rose from 100,439 in 1969 to 156,405 in 2022, for a net gain of 55,966, or 55.72%.

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 Connecticut's annual population for the period 1969-2022 to illustrate population patterns over time. During this 54-year period, Connecticut's population rose from 3,000,000 in 1969 to 3,626,205 in 2022, for a net gain of 626,205, or 20.87%.

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

Tolland County's overall population growth was 55.72% over 1969-2022 outpaced Connecticut's increase of 20.87%, and fell below the United States' increase of 65.57%.

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

In 1969, Tolland County's population totaled 3.35% of Connecticut's population, while in 2022 it comprised 4.31% thereby yielding a +0.97% share-shift.

Figure 5 highlights the short-run pattern of Tolland 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, Tolland County's population grew at an annual rate of 0.85% over 1970-2022. The county recorded its highest growth in 1972 (4.37%) and recorded its lowest growth in 1977 (-1.58%). In 2022, Tolland County's population grew by 0.28%

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 Tolland County's population since 1970, but this time they are displayed with average growth rates for the decade of the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, 2010s, and 2020-2022.

During the 1970s, Tolland County's annual population growth rate averaged 1.33%. It averaged 1.12% throughout the 1980s, 0.54% in the 1990s, 1.22% throughout the 2000s, -0.15% throughout the 2010s, 1.40% thus far this decade (2020-2022).

Figure 7 compares the decade average growth rates for Tolland County noted in the previous graph with the corresponding decade averages for Connecticut and the nation. As the chart reveals, Tolland County's average annual population growth surpassed Connecticut's average throughout the 1970s (1.33% vs. 0.33%), exceeded Connecticut's average in the 1980s (1.12% vs. 0.58%), outpaced Connecticut's average in the 1990s (0.54% vs. 0.31%), surpassed Connecticut's average throughout the 2000s (1.22% vs. 0.51%), lagged Connecticut's average throughout the 2010s (-0.15% vs. 0.13%), and led Connecticut's average over the 3 year period of the current decade, 2020-2022 (1.40% vs. 0.18%).

Finally, relative to nationwide population growth trends, Tolland County outgained the nation in the 1970s (1.33% vs. 1.10%), topped the nation throughout the 1980s (1.12% vs. 0.95%), fell below the nation during the 1990s (0.54% vs. 1.23%), registered above the nation in the 2000s (1.22% vs. 0.95%), posted below the nation in the 2010s (-0.15% vs. 0.74%), and topped the nation over 2020-2022 (1.40% vs. 0.31%).