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 Kennebec County with comparisons to Maine and the nation at large. This analysis features alternative approaches toward discussing, diagnosing and comparing Kennebec County vs. Maine'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 Kennebec County's annual population for the period 1969-2022 to illustrate population patterns over time. During this 54-year period, Kennebec County's population rose from 94,792 in 1969 to 125,540 in 2022, for a net gain of 30,748, or 32.44%.

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 Maine's annual population for the period 1969-2022 to illustrate population patterns over time. During this 54-year period, Maine's population rose from 992,000 in 1969 to 1,385,340 in 2022, for a net gain of 393,340, or 39.65%.

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

Kennebec County's overall population growth was 32.44% over 1969-2022 trailed Maine's increase of 39.65%, and fell below the United States' increase of 65.57%.

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

In 1969, Kennebec County's population totaled 9.56% of Maine's population, while in 2022 it totaled 9.06% thereby yielding a -0.49% share-shift.

Figure 5 highlights the short-run pattern of Kennebec 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 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, Kennebec County's population grew at an annual rate of 0.53% over 1970-2022. The county recorded its highest growth in 1972 (3.30%) and posted its lowest growth in 1996 (-0.48%). In 2022, Kennebec County's population grew by 0.57%

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 shows the annual percent change in Kennebec 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, Kennebec County's annual population growth rate averaged 1.39%. It averaged 0.58% throughout the 1980s, 0.13% in the 1990s, 0.45% in the 2000s, 0.08% throughout the 2010s, 0.67% thus far this decade (2020-2022).

Figure 7 compares the decade average growth rates for Kennebec County noted in the previous graph with the corresponding decade averages for Maine and the nation. As the chart reveals, Kennebec County's average annual population growth led Maine's average throughout the 1970s (1.39% vs. 1.27%), trailed Maine's average in the 1980s (0.58% vs. 0.82%), posted below Maine's average throughout the 1990s (0.13% vs. 0.38%), recorded under Maine's average in the 2000s (0.45% vs. 0.49%), fell below Maine's average during the 2010s (0.08% vs. 0.21%), and amounted to less than Maine's average over the 3 year period of the current decade, 2020-2022 (0.67% vs. 0.68%).

Finally, relative to nationwide population growth trends, Kennebec County outperformed the nation in the 1970s (1.39% vs. 1.10%), fell under the nation over the 1980s (0.58% vs. 0.95%), fell under the nation throughout the 1990s (0.13% vs. 1.23%), fell under the nation over the 2000s (0.45% vs. 0.95%), recorded underneath the nation throughout the 2010s (0.08% vs. 0.74%), and outpaced the nation over 2020-2022 (0.67% vs. 0.31%).