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 Los Angeles County with comparisons to California and the nation at large. This analysis features alternative approaches toward discussing, diagnosing and comparing Los Angeles County vs. California's population growth over 1969-2021. 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 Los Angeles County's annual population for the period 1969-2021 to illustrate population patterns over time. During this 53-year period, Los Angeles County's population rose from 6,989,910 in 1969 to 9,829,544 in 2021, for a net gain of 2,839,634, or 40.62%.

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 2 tracks California's annual population for the period 1969-2021 to illustrate population patterns over time. During this 53-year period, California's population rose from 19,711,000 in 1969 to 39,237,836 in 2021, for a net gain of 19,526,836, or 99.07%.

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 shows Los Angeles County's population growth in a broader context by offering direct comparisons across time with California, 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.

Los Angeles County's overall population growth was 40.62% over 1969-2021 trailed California's increase of 99.07%, and fell below the United States' increase of 64.88%.

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

In 1969, Los Angeles County's population comprised 35.46% of California's population, while in 2021 it totaled 25.05% thereby yielding a -10.41% share-shift.

Figure 5 shows the short-run pattern of Los Angeles County's population growth by tracking the year-to-year percent change over 1970-2021. The average annual percent change for the entire 52-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, Los Angeles County's population grew at an annual rate of 0.66% over 1970-2021. The county recorded its highest growth in 1986 (2.58%) and posted its lowest growth in 2021 (-1.60%). In 2021, Los Angeles County's population declined by -1.60%

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 depicts the annual percent change in Los Angeles 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 2020-2021.

During the 1970s, Los Angeles County's annual population growth rate averaged 0.57%. It averaged 1.74% in the 1980s, 0.71% in the 1990s, 0.37% throughout the 2000s, 0.27% in the 2010s, -1.11% thus far this decade (2020-2021).

Figure 7 compares the decade average growth rates for Los Angeles County noted in the previous graph with the corresponding decade averages for California and the nation. As the chart reveals, Los Angeles County's average annual population growth recorded under California's average in the 1970s (0.57% vs. 1.67%), lagged California's average throughout the 1980s (1.74% vs. 2.31%), lagged California's average in the 1990s (0.71% vs. 1.38%), amounted to less than California's average in the 2000s (0.37% vs. 0.99%), trailed California's average in the 2010s (0.27% vs. 0.68%), and posted below California's average over the 2 year period of the current decade, 2020-2021 (-1.11% vs. -0.39%).

Finally, relative to nationwide population growth trends, Los Angeles County trailed the nation in the 1970s (0.57% vs. 1.10%), led the nation during the 1980s (1.74% vs. 0.95%), trailed the nation over the 1990s (0.71% vs. 1.23%), recorded underneath the nation over the 2000s (0.37% vs. 0.95%), posted below the nation over the 2010s (0.27% vs. 0.74%), and fell below the nation over 2020-2021 (-1.11% vs. 0.25%).