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 DeSoto County with comparisons to Mississippi and the nation at large. This analysis features alternative approaches toward discussing, diagnosing and comparing DeSoto County vs. Mississippi'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 DeSoto County's annual population for the period 1969-2022 to illustrate population patterns over time. During this 54-year period, DeSoto County's population rose from 34,634 in 1969 to 191,723 in 2022, for a net gain of 157,089, or 453.57%.

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 Mississippi's annual population for the period 1969-2022 to illustrate population patterns over time. During this 54-year period, Mississippi's population rose from 2,220,000 in 1969 to 2,940,057 in 2022, for a net gain of 720,057, or 32.44%.

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.

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

In 1969, DeSoto County's population totaled 1.56% of Mississippi's population, while in 2022 it equated to 6.52% thereby yielding a +4.96% share-shift.

Figure 4 highlights the short-run pattern of DeSoto 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, DeSoto County's population grew at an annual rate of 3.31% over 1970-2022. The county recorded its highest growth in 1973 (13.35%) and recorded its lowest growth in 1981 (0.38%). In 2022, DeSoto County's population grew by 1.42%

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 5 again depicts the annual percent change in DeSoto County'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, DeSoto County's annual population growth rate averaged 4.42%. It averaged 2.22% during the 1980s, 4.58% in the 1990s, 4.45% during the 2000s, 1.39% during the 2010s, 1.52% thus far this decade (2020-2022).

Figure 6 compares the decade average growth rates for DeSoto County noted in the previous graph with the corresponding decade averages for Mississippi and the nation. As the chart reveals, DeSoto County's average annual population growth exceeded Mississippi's average throughout the 1970s (4.42% vs. 1.23%), outperformed Mississippi's average in the 1980s (2.22% vs. 0.26%), outperformed Mississippi's average during the 1990s (4.58% vs. 0.95%), topped Mississippi's average during the 2000s (4.45% vs. 0.45%), outgained Mississippi's average throughout the 2010s (1.39% vs. 0.03%), and outgained Mississippi's average over the 3 year period of the current decade, 2020-2022 (1.52% vs. -0.33%).

Finally, relative to nationwide population growth trends, DeSoto County outperformed the nation in the 1970s (4.42% vs. 1.10%), led the nation in the 1980s (2.22% vs. 0.95%), registered above the nation throughout the 1990s (4.58% vs. 1.23%), surpassed the nation during the 2000s (4.45% vs. 0.95%), exceeded the nation throughout the 2010s (1.39% vs. 0.74%), and led the nation over 2020-2022 (1.52% vs. 0.31%).