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 the Far West with comparisons to the nation at large. 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 the Far West's annual population for the period 1958-2022 to illustrate population patterns over time. During this 65-year period, the Far West's population rose from 20,469,000 in 1958 to 56,406,816 in 2022, for a net gain of 35,937,816, or 175.57%.

NOTE: The 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 shows the Far West's population growth in a broader context by offering direct comparisons across time with the United States. The growth indices shown here express each region's population in 1958 as a base figure of 100, and the populations in later years as a percentage of the 1958 base figure. This method allows for more direct comparison of differences in population growth between regions that may differ vastly in size.

The Far West's overall population growth was 175.57% over 1958-2022 outpaced the United States' increase of 91.38%.

Another interesting and insightful way of contrasting the population growth of the Far West is to trace its individual percentage contributions to the United States' total population over time, as shown in Figure 3. A rising share means a region's population grew faster, or declined less, than the United States' population, while a declining share shows it grew more slowly.

In 1958, the Far West's population totaled 11.75% of the United States' population, while in 2022 it comprised 16.92% thereby yielding a +5.17% share-shift.

Figure 4 displays the short-run pattern of the Far West's population growth by tracking the year-to-year percent change over 1959-2022. The average annual percent change for the entire 64-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, the Far West's population grew at an annual rate of 1.60% over 1959-2022. The Far West recorded its highest growth in 1959 (3.37%) and posted its lowest growth in 2021 (-0.53%). In 2022, the Far West's population declined by -0.11%

Over the past six decades some BEA regions have experienced extreme swings in growth, and often such swings have tended to coincide with the decades themselves. Figure 5 again illustrates the annual percent change in the Far West's population since 1959, but this time they are displayed with average growth rates for the decade of the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, 2010s, and 2020-2022.

During the 1960s, the Far West's annual population growth rate averaged 2.33%. It averaged 1.84% during the 1970s, 2.15% throughout the 1980s, 1.64% during the 1990s, 1.16% throughout the 2000s, 0.83% throughout the 2010s, -0.15% thus far this decade (2020-2022).

Figure 6 compares the decade average growth rates for the Far West noted in the previous graph with the corresponding decade averages for the nation.

Relative to nationwide population growth trends, the Far West recorded above the nation in the 1960s (2.33% vs. 1.29%), led the nation in the 1970s (1.84% vs. 1.10%), exceeded the nation in the 1980s (2.15% vs. 0.95%), recorded above the nation during the 1990s (1.64% vs. 1.23%), outpaced the nation in the 2000s (1.16% vs. 0.95%), led the nation in the 2010s (0.83% vs. 0.74%), and recorded underneath the nation over 2020-2022 (-0.15% vs. 0.31%).