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 Lea County with comparisons to New Mexico and the nation at large. This analysis features alternative approaches toward discussing, diagnosing and comparing Lea County vs. New Mexico'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 Lea County's annual population for the period 1969-2022 to illustrate population patterns over time. During this 54-year period, Lea County's population rose from 49,700 in 1969 to 72,452 in 2022, for a net gain of 22,752, or 45.78%.

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 New Mexico's annual population for the period 1969-2022 to illustrate population patterns over time. During this 54-year period, New Mexico's population rose from 1,011,000 in 1969 to 2,113,344 in 2022, for a net gain of 1,102,344, or 109.04%.

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 shows Lea County's population growth in a broader context by offering direct comparisons across time with New Mexico, 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.

Lea County's overall population growth was 45.78% over 1969-2022 trailed New Mexico's increase of 109.04%, and fell below the United States' increase of 65.57%.

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

In 1969, Lea County's population comprised 4.92% of New Mexico's population, while in 2022 it equated to 3.43% thereby yielding a -1.49% share-shift.

Figure 5 displays the short-run pattern of Lea 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, Lea County's population grew at an annual rate of 0.74% over 1970-2022. The county recorded its highest growth in 1982 (7.55%) and posted its lowest growth in 1987 (-6.56%). In 2022, Lea County's population declined by -0.89%

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 illustrates the annual percent change in Lea 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, Lea County's annual population growth rate averaged 1.10%. It averaged 0.34% throughout the 1980s, -0.07% in the 1990s, 1.36% throughout the 2000s, 1.34% in the 2010s, -0.51% thus far this decade (2020-2022).

Figure 7 compares the decade average growth rates for Lea County noted in the previous graph with the corresponding decade averages for New Mexico and the nation. As the chart reveals, Lea County's average annual population growth recorded under New Mexico's average throughout the 1970s (1.10% vs. 2.39%), trailed New Mexico's average throughout the 1980s (0.34% vs. 1.62%), amounted to less than New Mexico's average in the 1990s (-0.07% vs. 1.86%), registered above New Mexico's average during the 2000s (1.36% vs. 1.20%), exceeded New Mexico's average during the 2010s (1.34% vs. 0.36%), and amounted to less than New Mexico's average over the 3 year period of the current decade, 2020-2022 (-0.51% vs. 0.05%).

Finally, relative to nationwide population growth trends, Lea County registered above the nation over the 1970s (1.10% vs. 1.10%), posted below the nation in the 1980s (0.34% vs. 0.95%), fell under the nation during the 1990s (-0.07% vs. 1.23%), topped the nation in the 2000s (1.36% vs. 0.95%), outgained the nation over the 2010s (1.34% vs. 0.74%), and trailed the nation over 2020-2022 (-0.51% vs. 0.31%).