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 Finney County with comparisons to Kansas and the nation at large. This analysis features alternative approaches toward discussing, diagnosing and comparing Finney County vs. Kansas' 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 Finney County's annual population for the period 1969-2022 to illustrate population patterns over time. During this 54-year period, Finney County's population rose from 18,830 in 1969 to 37,650 in 2022, for a net gain of 18,820, or 99.95%.

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 Kansas' annual population for the period 1969-2022 to illustrate population patterns over time. During this 54-year period, Kansas' population rose from 2,236,000 in 1969 to 2,937,150 in 2022, for a net gain of 701,150, or 31.36%.

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

Finney County's overall population growth was 99.95% over 1969-2022 outpaced Kansas' increase of 31.36%, and outpaced the United States' increase of 65.57%.

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

In 1969, Finney County's population totaled 0.84% of Kansas' population, while in 2022 it totaled 1.28% thereby yielding a +0.44% share-shift.

Figure 5 displays the short-run pattern of Finney 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, Finney County's population grew at an annual rate of 1.34% over 1970-2022. The county recorded its highest growth in 1983 (7.09%) and posted its lowest growth in 2002 (-3.10%). In 2022, Finney County's population declined by -1.09%

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 Finney County's population since 1970, but this time they are overlayed with average growth rates for the decade of the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, 2010s, and 2020-2022.

During the 1970s, Finney County's annual population growth rate averaged 2.14%. It averaged 3.51% throughout the 1980s, 1.98% throughout the 1990s, -0.92% in the 2000s, 0.60% in the 2010s, -0.77% thus far this decade (2020-2022).

Figure 7 compares the decade average growth rates for Finney County noted in the previous graph with the corresponding decade averages for Kansas and the nation. As the chart reveals, Finney County's average annual population growth surpassed Kansas' average throughout the 1970s (2.14% vs. 0.49%), registered above Kansas' average throughout the 1980s (3.51% vs. 0.52%), surpassed Kansas' average in the 1990s (1.98% vs. 0.80%), fell below Kansas' average throughout the 2000s (-0.92% vs. 0.56%), outperformed Kansas' average throughout the 2010s (0.60% vs. 0.35%), and lagged Kansas' average over the 3 year period of the current decade, 2020-2022 (-0.77% vs. 0.04%).

Finally, relative to nationwide population growth trends, Finney County topped the nation in the 1970s (2.14% vs. 1.10%), outperformed the nation throughout the 1980s (3.51% vs. 0.95%), led the nation in the 1990s (1.98% vs. 1.23%), fell below the nation in the 2000s (-0.92% vs. 0.95%), fell under the nation over the 2010s (0.60% vs. 0.74%), and fell under the nation over 2020-2022 (-0.77% vs. 0.31%).