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 Nonmetropolitan Minnesota with comparisons to Minnesota and the nation at large. This analysis features alternative approaches toward discussing, diagnosing and comparing Nonmetropolitan Minnesota vs. Minnesota'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 traces Nonmetropolitan Minnesota's annual population for the period 1969-2022 to illustrate population patterns over time. During this 54-year period, Nonmetropolitan Minnesota's population rose from 1,109,270 in 1969 to 1,265,352 in 2022, for a net gain of 156,082, or 14.07%.

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 2 traces Minnesota's annual population for the period 1969-2022 to illustrate population patterns over time. During this 54-year period, Minnesota's population rose from 3,758,000 in 1969 to 5,717,184 in 2022, for a net gain of 1,959,184, or 52.13%.

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 Nonmetropolitan Minnesota's population growth in a broader context by offering direct comparisons across time with Minnesota, 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.

Nonmetropolitan Minnesota's overall population growth was 14.07% over 1969-2022 trailed Minnesota's increase of 52.13%, and fell below the United States' increase of 65.57%.

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

In 1969, Nonmetropolitan Minnesota's population comprised 29.52% of Minnesota's population, while in 2022 it equated to 22.13% thereby yielding a -7.39% share-shift.

Figure 5 displays the short-run pattern of Nonmetropolitan Minnesota'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 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, Nonmetropolitan Minnesota's population grew at an annual rate of 0.25% over 1970-2022. Nonmetropolitan Minnesota posted its highest growth in 1975 (1.28%) and posted its lowest growth in 1986 (-1.09%). In 2022, Nonmetropolitan Minnesota's population grew by 0.17%

Over the past five decades some nonmetropolitan regions have experienced extreme swings in growth, and often such swings have tended to coincide with the decades themselves. Figure 6 again shows the annual percent change in Nonmetropolitan Minnesota'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, Nonmetropolitan Minnesota's annual population growth rate averaged 0.58%. It averaged -0.26% throughout the 1980s, 0.59% throughout the 1990s, 0.25% throughout the 2000s, 0.11% throughout the 2010s, 0.17% thus far this decade (2020-2022).

Figure 7 compares the decade average growth rates for Nonmetropolitan Minnesota noted in the previous graph with the corresponding decade averages for Minnesota and the nation. As the chart reveals, Nonmetropolitan Minnesota's average annual population growth lagged Minnesota's average in the 1970s (0.58% vs. 0.72%), trailed Minnesota's average in the 1980s (-0.26% vs. 0.72%), amounted to less than Minnesota's average in the 1990s (0.59% vs. 1.17%), posted below Minnesota's average during the 2000s (0.25% vs. 0.81%), fell below Minnesota's average during the 2010s (0.11% vs. 0.74%), and amounted to less than Minnesota's average over the 3 year period of the current decade, 2020-2022 (0.17% vs. 0.18%).

Finally, relative to nationwide population growth trends, Nonmetropolitan Minnesota posted below the nation over the 1970s (0.58% vs. 1.10%), recorded underneath the nation over the 1980s (-0.26% vs. 0.95%), posted below the nation in the 1990s (0.59% vs. 1.23%), trailed the nation over the 2000s (0.25% vs. 0.95%), lagged the nation throughout the 2010s (0.11% vs. 0.74%), and fell under the nation over 2020-2022 (0.17% vs. 0.31%).