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 Alexandria MSA with comparisons to Louisiana and the nation at large. This analysis features alternative approaches toward discussing, diagnosing and comparing the Alexandria MSA vs. Louisiana'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 Alexandria MSA's annual population for the period 1969-2022 to illustrate population patterns over time. During this 54-year period, the Alexandria MSA's population rose from 131,387 in 1969 to 149,189 in 2022, for a net gain of 17,802, or 13.55%.

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 Louisiana's annual population for the period 1969-2022 to illustrate population patterns over time. During this 54-year period, Louisiana's population rose from 3,619,000 in 1969 to 4,590,241 in 2022, for a net gain of 971,241, or 26.84%.

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 Alexandria MSA's population growth in a broader context by offering direct comparisons across time with Louisiana, 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 Alexandria MSA's overall population growth was 13.55% over 1969-2022 trailed Louisiana's increase of 26.84%, and fell below the United States' increase of 65.57%.

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

In 1969, the Alexandria MSA's population comprised 3.63% of Louisiana's population, while in 2022 it totaled 3.25% thereby yielding a -0.38% share-shift.

Figure 5 shows the short-run pattern of the Alexandria 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 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 Alexandria MSA's population grew at an annual rate of 0.25% over 1970-2022. The Alexandria MSA posted its highest growth in 1971 (3.38%) and posted its lowest growth in 1993 (-3.66%). In 2022, the Alexandria MSA's population declined by -1.17%

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 traces the annual percent change in the Alexandria 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 Alexandria MSA's annual population growth rate averaged 1.33%. It averaged 0.02% during the 1980s, -0.36% during the 1990s, 0.56% in the 2000s, -0.01% during the 2010s, -0.84% thus far this decade (2020-2022).

Figure 7 compares the decade average growth rates for the Alexandria MSA noted in the previous graph with the corresponding decade averages for Louisiana and the nation. As the chart reveals, the Alexandria MSA's average annual population growth fell below Louisiana's average throughout the 1970s (1.33% vs. 1.35%), amounted to less than Louisiana's average throughout the 1980s (0.02% vs. 0.28%), trailed Louisiana's average throughout the 1990s (-0.36% vs. 0.48%), led Louisiana's average in the 2000s (0.56% vs. 0.09%), lagged Louisiana's average during the 2010s (-0.01% vs. 0.38%), and lagged Louisiana's average over the 3 year period of the current decade, 2020-2022 (-0.84% vs. -0.53%).

Finally, relative to nationwide population growth trends, the Alexandria MSA topped the nation in the 1970s (1.33% vs. 1.10%), fell under the nation during the 1980s (0.02% vs. 0.95%), fell below the nation throughout the 1990s (-0.36% vs. 1.23%), trailed the nation during the 2000s (0.56% vs. 0.95%), fell under the nation over the 2010s (-0.01% vs. 0.74%), and lagged the nation over 2020-2022 (-0.84% vs. 0.31%).