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 Sussex County with comparisons to New Jersey and the nation at large. This analysis features alternative approaches toward discussing, diagnosing and comparing Sussex 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 Sussex County's annual population for the period 1969-2022 to illustrate population patterns over time. During this 54-year period, Sussex County's population rose from 75,367 in 1969 to 146,084 in 2022, for a net gain of 70,717, or 93.83%.

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 shows Sussex 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.

Sussex County's overall population growth was 93.83% 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 comparing the population growth of Sussex County is to trace 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, Sussex County's population totaled 1.06% of New Jersey's population, while in 2022 it equated to 1.58% thereby yielding a +0.52% share-shift.

Figure 5 highlights the short-run pattern of Sussex 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, Sussex County's population grew at an annual rate of 1.27% over 1970-2022. The county recorded its highest growth in 1973 (7.38%) and posted its lowest growth in 2015 (-0.80%). In 2022, Sussex County's population grew by 0.30%

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 Sussex 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, Sussex County's annual population growth rate averaged 4.33%. It averaged 1.22% during the 1980s, 0.94% throughout the 1990s, 0.46% throughout the 2000s, -0.33% in the 2010s, 0.35% thus far this decade (2020-2022).

Figure 7 compares the decade average growth rates for Sussex County noted in the previous graph with the corresponding decade averages for New Jersey and the nation. As the chart reveals, Sussex County's average annual population growth registered above New Jersey's average in the 1970s (4.33% vs. 0.39%), led New Jersey's average during the 1980s (1.22% vs. 0.47%), outperformed New Jersey's average throughout the 1990s (0.94% vs. 0.79%), trailed New Jersey's average in the 2000s (0.46% vs. 0.46%), lagged New Jersey's average in the 2010s (-0.33% vs. 0.56%), and topped New Jersey's average over the 3 year period of the current decade, 2020-2022 (0.35% vs. 0.01%).

Finally, relative to nationwide population growth trends, Sussex County topped the nation throughout the 1970s (4.33% vs. 1.10%), outgained the nation throughout the 1980s (1.22% vs. 0.95%), fell below the nation over the 1990s (0.94% vs. 1.23%), lagged the nation in the 2000s (0.46% vs. 0.95%), fell under the nation over the 2010s (-0.33% vs. 0.74%), and registered above the nation over 2020-2022 (0.35% vs. 0.31%).