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 Ventura County with comparisons to California and the nation at large. This analysis features alternative approaches toward discussing, diagnosing and comparing Ventura County vs. California's population growth over 1969-2017. 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 Ventura County's annual population for the period 1969-2017 to illustrate population patterns over time. During this 49-year period, Ventura County's population rose from 369,811 in 1969 to 854,223 in 2017, for a net gain of 484,412, or 131.0%.

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 California's annual population for the period 1969-2017 to illustrate population patterns over time. During this 49-year period, California's population rose from 19,711,000 in 1969 to 39,536,653 in 2017, for a net gain of 19,825,653, or 100.6%.

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 Ventura 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.

Ventura County's overall population growth was 131.0% over 1969-2017 outpaced California's increase of 100.6%, and topped the United States' increase of 61.8%.

Another interesting and insightful way of comparing the population growth of Ventura 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, Ventura County's population comprised 1.9% of California's population, while in 2017 it totaled 2.2% thereby yielding a +0.3% share-shift.

Figure 5 displays the short-run pattern of Ventura County's population growth by tracking the year-to-year percent change over 1970-2017. The average annual percent change for the entire 48-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, Ventura County's population grew at an annual rate of 1.77% over 1970-2017. The county recorded its highest growth in 1980 (4.03%) and posted its lowest growth in 2005 (0.03%). In 2017, Ventura County's population grew by 0.37%

Over the past four 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 Ventura County's population since 1970, but this time they are displayed with average growth rates for the decade of the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, and 2010-2017.

During the 1970s, Ventura County's annual population growth rate averaged 3.31%. It averaged 2.64% throughout the 1980s, 1.13% in the 1990s, 0.93% during the 2000s, and 0.59% thus far this decade (2010 to 2017).

Figure 7 compares the decade average growth rates for Ventura County noted in the previous graph with the corresponding decade averages for California and the nation. As the chart reveals, Ventura County's average annual population growth recorded above California's average throughout the 1970s (3.31% vs. 1.67%), led California's average in the 1980s (2.64% vs. 2.31%), posted below California's average throughout the 1990s (1.13% vs. 1.38%), fell below California's average throughout the 2000s (0.93% vs. 0.99%), and posted below California's average over the 8 year period of the last decade, 2010-2017 (0.59% vs. 0.85%).

Finally, relative to nationwide population growth trends, Ventura County outperformed the nation throughout the 1970s (3.31% vs. 1.10%), outpaced the nation throughout the 1980s (2.64% vs. 0.95%), trailed the nation in the 1990s (1.13% vs. 1.23%), lagged the nation in the 2000s (0.93% vs. 0.95%), and posted below the nation over 2010-2017 (0.59% vs. 0.75%).