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 Madison County with comparisons to Nebraska and the nation at large. This analysis features alternative approaches toward discussing, diagnosing and comparing Madison County vs. Nebraska'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 Madison County's annual population for the period 1969-2022 to illustrate population patterns over time. During this 54-year period, Madison County's population rose from 27,382 in 1969 to 35,368 in 2022, for a net gain of 7,986, or 29.17%.

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 Nebraska's annual population for the period 1969-2022 to illustrate population patterns over time. During this 54-year period, Nebraska's population rose from 1,474,000 in 1969 to 1,967,923 in 2022, for a net gain of 493,923, or 33.51%.

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

Madison County's overall population growth was 29.17% over 1969-2022 trailed Nebraska's increase of 33.51%, and fell below the United States' increase of 65.57%.

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

In 1969, Madison County's population comprised 1.86% of Nebraska's population, while in 2022 it comprised 1.80% thereby yielding a -0.06% share-shift.

Figure 5 highlights the short-run pattern of Madison 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, Madison County's population grew at an annual rate of 0.49% over 1970-2022. The county posted its highest growth in 1973 (2.91%) and recorded its lowest growth in 2007 (-3.15%). In 2022, Madison County's population grew by 0.02%

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 Madison 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, Madison County's annual population growth rate averaged 1.16%. It averaged 0.63% during the 1980s, 0.78% throughout the 1990s, -0.20% during the 2000s, 0.30% in the 2010s, -0.29% thus far this decade (2020-2022).

Figure 7 compares the decade average growth rates for Madison County noted in the previous graph with the corresponding decade averages for Nebraska and the nation. As the chart reveals, Madison County's average annual population growth topped Nebraska's average in the 1970s (1.16% vs. 0.60%), topped Nebraska's average during the 1980s (0.63% vs. 0.07%), recorded under Nebraska's average in the 1990s (0.78% vs. 0.80%), amounted to less than Nebraska's average during the 2000s (-0.20% vs. 0.62%), recorded under Nebraska's average during the 2010s (0.30% vs. 0.76%), and posted below Nebraska's average over the 3 year period of the current decade, 2020-2022 (-0.29% vs. 0.22%).

Finally, relative to nationwide population growth trends, Madison County surpassed the nation during the 1970s (1.16% vs. 1.10%), fell below the nation during the 1980s (0.63% vs. 0.95%), recorded underneath the nation throughout the 1990s (0.78% vs. 1.23%), fell under the nation during the 2000s (-0.20% vs. 0.95%), fell below the nation during the 2010s (0.30% vs. 0.74%), and fell under the nation over 2020-2022 (-0.29% vs. 0.31%).