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 Butler County with comparisons to Missouri and the nation at large. This analysis features alternative approaches toward discussing, diagnosing and comparing Butler County vs. Missouri'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 Butler County's annual population for the period 1969-2022 to illustrate population patterns over time. During this 54-year period, Butler County's population rose from 34,187 in 1969 to 42,179 in 2022, for a net gain of 7,992, or 23.38%.

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 Missouri's annual population for the period 1969-2022 to illustrate population patterns over time. During this 54-year period, Missouri's population rose from 4,640,000 in 1969 to 6,177,957 in 2022, for a net gain of 1,537,957, or 33.15%.

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

Butler County's overall population growth was 23.38% over 1969-2022 trailed Missouri's increase of 33.15%, and fell below the United States' increase of 65.57%.

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

In 1969, Butler County's population totaled 0.74% of Missouri's population, while in 2022 it equated to 0.68% thereby yielding a -0.05% share-shift.

Figure 5 highlights the short-run pattern of Butler 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 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, Butler County's population grew at an annual rate of 0.40% over 1970-2022. The county posted its highest growth in 1975 (3.68%) and posted its lowest growth in 1970 (-1.14%). In 2022, Butler County's population grew by 0.07%

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 Butler 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, Butler County's annual population growth rate averaged 1.04%. It averaged 0.14% in the 1980s, 0.65% throughout the 1990s, 0.42% during the 2000s, -0.06% in the 2010s, -0.19% thus far this decade (2020-2022).

Figure 7 compares the decade average growth rates for Butler County noted in the previous graph with the corresponding decade averages for Missouri and the nation. As the chart reveals, Butler County's average annual population growth recorded above Missouri's average in the 1970s (1.04% vs. 0.53%), recorded under Missouri's average during the 1980s (0.14% vs. 0.41%), trailed Missouri's average throughout the 1990s (0.65% vs. 0.88%), posted below Missouri's average during the 2000s (0.42% vs. 0.70%), trailed Missouri's average in the 2010s (-0.06% vs. 0.30%), and trailed Missouri's average over the 3 year period of the current decade, 2020-2022 (-0.19% vs. 0.19%).

Finally, relative to nationwide population growth trends, Butler County fell under the nation in the 1970s (1.04% vs. 1.10%), lagged the nation over the 1980s (0.14% vs. 0.95%), fell under the nation throughout the 1990s (0.65% vs. 1.23%), fell under the nation over the 2000s (0.42% vs. 0.95%), posted below the nation throughout the 2010s (-0.06% vs. 0.74%), and trailed the nation over 2020-2022 (-0.19% vs. 0.31%).