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 Yolo County with comparisons to California and the nation at large. This analysis features alternative approaches toward discussing, diagnosing and comparing Yolo County vs. California's population growth over 1969-2019. 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 Yolo County's annual population for the period 1969-2019 to illustrate population patterns over time. During this 51-year period, Yolo County's population rose from 89,817 in 1969 to 220,500 in 2019, for a net gain of 130,683, or 145.5%.

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 1969-2019 to illustrate population patterns over time. During this 51-year period, California's population rose from 19,711,000 in 1969 to 39,512,223 in 2019, for a net gain of 19,801,223, or 100.5%.

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 Yolo 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.

Yolo County's overall population growth was 145.5% over 1969-2019 outpaced California's increase of 100.5%, and outpaced the United States' increase of 63.1%.

Another interesting and insightful way of contrasting the population growth of Yolo County is to compare 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, Yolo County's population comprised 0.46% of California's population, while in 2019 it comprised 0.56% thereby yielding a +0.10% share-shift.

Figure 5 displays the short-run pattern of Yolo County's population growth by tracking the year-to-year percent change over 1970-2019. The average annual percent change for the entire 50-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, Yolo County's population grew at an annual rate of 1.82% over 1970-2019. The county recorded its highest growth in 1972 (6.67%) and posted its lowest growth in 1973 (-3.91%). In 2019, Yolo County's population grew by 0.17%

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 traces the annual percent change in Yolo County's population since 1970, but this time they are overlayed with average growth rates for the decade of the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, and 2010-2019.

During the 1970s, Yolo County's annual population growth rate averaged 2.05%. It averaged 2.36% throughout the 1980s, 1.80% throughout the 1990s, 1.92% throughout the 2000s, and 0.99% thus far this decade (2010 to 2019).

Figure 7 compares the decade average growth rates for Yolo County noted in the previous graph with the corresponding decade averages for California and the nation. As the chart reveals, Yolo County's average annual population growth registered above California's average during the 1970s (2.05% vs. 1.67%), outpaced California's average during the 1980s (2.36% vs. 2.31%), surpassed California's average in the 1990s (1.80% vs. 1.38%), registered above California's average throughout the 2000s (1.92% vs. 0.99%), and surpassed California's average over the 10 year period of the last decade, 2010-2019 (0.99% vs. 0.67%).

Finally, relative to nationwide population growth trends, Yolo County led the nation throughout the 1970s (2.05% vs. 1.10%), outperformed the nation during the 1980s (2.36% vs. 0.95%), recorded above the nation over the 1990s (1.80% vs. 1.23%), led the nation throughout the 2000s (1.92% vs. 0.95%), and topped the nation over 2010-2019 (0.99% vs. 0.68%).