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 Franklin County with comparisons to Indiana and the nation at large. This analysis features alternative approaches toward discussing, diagnosing and comparing Franklin County vs. Indiana'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 traces Franklin County's annual population for the period 1969-2022 to illustrate population patterns over time. During this 54-year period, Franklin County's population rose from 16,972 in 1969 to 23,028 in 2022, for a net gain of 6,056, or 35.68%.

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 Indiana's annual population for the period 1969-2022 to illustrate population patterns over time. During this 54-year period, Indiana's population rose from 5,143,000 in 1969 to 6,833,037 in 2022, for a net gain of 1,690,037, or 32.86%.

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

Franklin County's overall population growth was 35.68% over 1969-2022 outpaced Indiana's increase of 32.86%, and fell below the United States' increase of 65.57%.

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

In 1969, Franklin County's population totaled 0.33% of Indiana's population, while in 2022 it comprised 0.34% thereby yielding a +0.01% share-shift.

Figure 5 shows the short-run pattern of Franklin 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, Franklin County's population grew at an annual rate of 0.58% over 1970-2022. The county posted its highest growth in 1995 (3.61%) and posted its lowest growth in 1986 (-0.99%). In 2022, Franklin County's population grew by 0.75%

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 Franklin 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, Franklin County's annual population growth rate averaged 1.24%. It averaged 0.21% in the 1980s, 1.16% during the 1990s, 0.54% throughout the 2000s, -0.18% throughout the 2010s, 0.36% thus far this decade (2020-2022).

Figure 7 compares the decade average growth rates for Franklin County noted in the previous graph with the corresponding decade averages for Indiana and the nation. As the chart reveals, Franklin County's average annual population growth registered above Indiana's average throughout the 1970s (1.24% vs. 0.63%), topped Indiana's average in the 1980s (0.21% vs. 0.09%), surpassed Indiana's average throughout the 1990s (1.16% vs. 0.91%), recorded under Indiana's average during the 2000s (0.54% vs. 0.67%), posted below Indiana's average in the 2010s (-0.18% vs. 0.46%), and outperformed Indiana's average over the 3 year period of the current decade, 2020-2022 (0.36% vs. 0.35%).

Finally, relative to nationwide population growth trends, Franklin County outperformed the nation during the 1970s (1.24% vs. 1.10%), recorded underneath the nation during the 1980s (0.21% vs. 0.95%), fell under the nation in the 1990s (1.16% vs. 1.23%), trailed the nation during the 2000s (0.54% vs. 0.95%), recorded underneath the nation in the 2010s (-0.18% vs. 0.74%), and outperformed the nation over 2020-2022 (0.36% vs. 0.31%).