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 Charleston MSA with comparisons to West Virginia and the nation at large. This analysis features alternative approaches toward discussing, diagnosing and comparing the Charleston MSA vs. West Virginia'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 the Charleston MSA's annual population for the period 1969-2022 to illustrate population patterns over time. During this 54-year period, the Charleston MSA's population dropped from 304,197 in 1969 to 251,914 in 2022, for a net loss of -52,283, or -17.19%.

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 tracks West Virginia's annual population for the period 1969-2022 to illustrate population patterns over time. During this 54-year period, West Virginia's population rose from 1,746,000 in 1969 to 1,775,156 in 2022, for a net gain of 29,156, or 1.67%.

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 the Charleston MSA's population growth in a broader context by offering direct comparisons across time with West Virginia, 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.

The Charleston MSA's overall population growth was -17.19% over 1969-2022 trailed West Virginia's increase of 1.67%, and fell below the United States' increase of 65.57%.

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

In 1969, the Charleston MSA's population comprised 17.42% of West Virginia's population, while in 2022 it comprised 14.19% thereby yielding a -3.23% share-shift.

Figure 5 displays the short-run pattern of the Charleston MSA'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, the Charleston MSA's population contracted at an annual rate of -0.35% over 1970-2022. The Charleston MSA recorded its highest growth in 1975 (1.70%) and recorded its lowest growth in 1988 (-1.97%). In 2022, the Charleston MSA's population declined by -1.29%

Over the past five decades some msas have experienced extreme swings in growth, and often such swings have tended to coincide with the decades themselves. Figure 6 again illustrates the annual percent change in the Charleston MSA'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, the Charleston MSA's annual population growth rate averaged 0.54%. It averaged -0.88% during the 1980s, -0.23% in the 1990s, -0.31% throughout the 2000s, -0.65% in the 2010s, -1.15% thus far this decade (2020-2022).

Figure 7 compares the decade average growth rates for the Charleston MSA noted in the previous graph with the corresponding decade averages for West Virginia and the nation. As the chart reveals, the Charleston MSA's average annual population growth trailed West Virginia's average throughout the 1970s (0.54% vs. 1.06%), lagged West Virginia's average throughout the 1980s (-0.88% vs. -0.70%), recorded under West Virginia's average in the 1990s (-0.23% vs. 0.03%), posted below West Virginia's average throughout the 2000s (-0.31% vs. 0.20%), fell below West Virginia's average throughout the 2010s (-0.65% vs. -0.26%), and amounted to less than West Virginia's average over the 3 year period of the current decade, 2020-2022 (-1.15% vs. -0.47%).

Finally, relative to nationwide population growth trends, the Charleston MSA fell under the nation during the 1970s (0.54% vs. 1.10%), lagged the nation over the 1980s (-0.88% vs. 0.95%), fell below the nation during the 1990s (-0.23% vs. 1.23%), recorded underneath the nation over the 2000s (-0.31% vs. 0.95%), lagged the nation in the 2010s (-0.65% vs. 0.74%), and lagged the nation over 2020-2022 (-1.15% vs. 0.31%).