Coweta County vs. Georgia Comparative Trends Analysis: Population Growth and Change, 1969-2022 Introduction Coweta County: 2022 Population = 152,882 2022 Percent of State = 1.40% Georgia: 2022 Population = 10,912,876 2022 Percent of U.S. = 3.27% 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 Coweta County with comparisons to Georgia and the nation at large. This analysis features alternative approaches toward discussing, diagnosing and comparing Coweta County vs. Georgia'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. Population, 1969-2022 Figure 1. Figure 1 tracks Coweta County's annual population for the period 1969-2022 to illustrate population patterns over time. During this 54-year period, Coweta County's population rose from 31,960 in 1969 to 152,882 in 2022, for a net gain of 120,922, or 378.35%. 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. Population, 1969-2022 Figure 2. Figure 2 tracks Georgia's annual population for the period 1969-2022 to illustrate population patterns over time. During this 54-year period, Georgia's population rose from 4,551,000 in 1969 to 10,912,876 in 2022, for a net gain of 6,361,876, or 139.79%. 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. Population Indices (1969=100): 1969-2022 Figure 3. Figure 3 shows Coweta County's population growth in a broader context by offering direct comparisons across time with Georgia, 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. Coweta County's overall population growth was 378.35% over 1969-2022 outpaced Georgia's increase of 139.79%, and outpaced the United States' increase of 65.57%. Population as a Percent of the Georgia Total: 1969-2022 Figure 4. Another interesting and insightful way of highlighting the population growth of Coweta County is to compare its individual percentage contributions to Georgia's statewide population over time, as shown in Figure 4. A rising share means a region's population grew faster, or declined less, than Georgia's population, while a declining share shows it grew more slowly. In 1969, Coweta County's population comprised 0.70% of Georgia's population, while in 2022 it comprised 1.40% thereby yielding a +0.70% share-shift.
Coweta County Population: Annual Percent Change, 1970-2022 Figure 5. Figure 5 displays the short-run pattern of Coweta 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, Coweta County's population grew at an annual rate of 3.01% over 1970-2022. The county recorded its highest growth in 1994 (6.42%) and posted its lowest growth in 1975 (-0.07%). In 2022, Coweta County's population grew by 1.97% Coweta County Population: Annual Percent Change and Decade Averages Over 1970-2022 Figure 6. 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 depicts the annual percent change in Coweta 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, Coweta County's annual population growth rate averaged 1.80%. It averaged 3.10% in the 1980s, 5.30% during the 1990s, 3.75% in the 2000s, 1.44% during the 2010s, 1.83% thus far this decade (2020-2022). Population Growth: Average Annual Percent Change by Decade Figure 7. Figure 7 compares the decade average growth rates for Coweta County noted in the previous graph with the corresponding decade averages for Georgia and the nation. As the chart reveals, Coweta County's average annual population growth exceeded Georgia's average during the 1970s (1.80% vs. 1.71%), recorded above Georgia's average in the 1980s (3.10% vs. 1.75%), outpaced Georgia's average during the 1990s (5.30% vs. 2.30%), outperformed Georgia's average during the 2000s (3.75% vs. 1.80%), outgained Georgia's average throughout the 2010s (1.44% vs. 1.01%), and exceeded Georgia's average over the 3 year period of the current decade, 2020-2022 (1.83% vs. 0.84%). Finally, relative to nationwide population growth trends, Coweta County led the nation in the 1970s (1.80% vs. 1.10%), outperformed the nation in the 1980s (3.10% vs. 0.95%), registered above the nation over the 1990s (5.30% vs. 1.23%), outperformed the nation over the 2000s (3.75% vs. 0.95%), led the nation during the 2010s (1.44% vs. 0.74%), and outperformed the nation over 2020-2022 (1.83% vs. 0.31%).
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