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 Ocean County with comparisons to New Jersey and the nation at large. This analysis features alternative approaches toward discussing, diagnosing and comparing Ocean County vs. New Jersey'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 Ocean County's annual population for the period 1969-2022 to illustrate population patterns over time. During this 54-year period, Ocean County's population rose from 199,210 in 1969 to 655,735 in 2022, for a net gain of 456,525, or 229.17%.

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 New Jersey's annual population for the period 1969-2022 to illustrate population patterns over time. During this 54-year period, New Jersey's population rose from 7,095,000 in 1969 to 9,261,699 in 2022, for a net gain of 2,166,699, or 30.54%.

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 Ocean County's population growth in a broader context by offering direct comparisons across time with New Jersey, 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.

Ocean County's overall population growth was 229.17% over 1969-2022 outpaced New Jersey's increase of 30.54%, and topped the United States' increase of 65.57%.

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

In 1969, Ocean County's population totaled 2.81% of New Jersey's population, while in 2022 it comprised 7.08% thereby yielding a +4.27% share-shift.

Figure 5 highlights the short-run pattern of Ocean 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 traced 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, Ocean County's population grew at an annual rate of 2.29% over 1970-2022. The county posted its highest growth in 1972 (10.41%) and posted its lowest growth in 2012 (0.59%). In 2022, Ocean County's population grew by 0.92%

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 Ocean 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, Ocean County's annual population growth rate averaged 5.57%. It averaged 2.30% throughout the 1980s, 1.62% during the 1990s, 1.30% during the 2000s, 0.95% throughout the 2010s, 1.34% thus far this decade (2020-2022).

Figure 7 compares the decade average growth rates for Ocean County noted in the previous graph with the corresponding decade averages for New Jersey and the nation. As the chart reveals, Ocean County's average annual population growth outperformed New Jersey's average during the 1970s (5.57% vs. 0.39%), outperformed New Jersey's average during the 1980s (2.30% vs. 0.47%), registered above New Jersey's average during the 1990s (1.62% vs. 0.79%), recorded above New Jersey's average during the 2000s (1.30% vs. 0.46%), outpaced New Jersey's average during the 2010s (0.95% vs. 0.56%), and outperformed New Jersey's average over the 3 year period of the current decade, 2020-2022 (1.34% vs. 0.01%).

Finally, relative to nationwide population growth trends, Ocean County recorded above the nation during the 1970s (5.57% vs. 1.10%), led the nation throughout the 1980s (2.30% vs. 0.95%), outgained the nation during the 1990s (1.62% vs. 1.23%), surpassed the nation in the 2000s (1.30% vs. 0.95%), outpaced the nation over the 2010s (0.95% vs. 0.74%), and recorded above the nation over 2020-2022 (1.34% vs. 0.31%).