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 Saginaw MSA with comparisons to Michigan and the nation at large. This analysis features alternative approaches toward discussing, diagnosing and comparing the Saginaw MSA vs. Michigan'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 Saginaw MSA's annual population for the period 1969-2022 to illustrate population patterns over time. During this 54-year period, the Saginaw MSA's population dropped from 219,374 in 1969 to 188,330 in 2022, for a net loss of -31,044, or -14.15%.

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 2 tracks Michigan's annual population for the period 1969-2022 to illustrate population patterns over time. During this 54-year period, Michigan's population rose from 8,781,000 in 1969 to 10,034,113 in 2022, for a net gain of 1,253,113, or 14.27%.

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 the Saginaw MSA's population growth in a broader context by offering direct comparisons across time with Michigan, 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 Saginaw MSA's overall population growth was -14.15% over 1969-2022 trailed Michigan's increase of 14.27%, and fell below the United States' increase of 65.57%.

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

In 1969, the Saginaw MSA's population totaled 2.50% of Michigan's population, while in 2022 it comprised 1.88% thereby yielding a -0.62% share-shift.

Figure 5 displays the short-run pattern of the Saginaw 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 Saginaw MSA's population contracted at an annual rate of -0.29% over 1970-2022. The Saginaw MSA recorded its highest growth in 1971 (1.27%) and recorded its lowest growth in 1982 (-1.43%). In 2022, the Saginaw MSA's population declined by -0.66%

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 Saginaw 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 Saginaw MSA's annual population growth rate averaged 0.33%. It averaged -0.65% during the 1980s, -0.09% during the 1990s, -0.46% during the 2000s, -0.53% throughout the 2010s, -0.38% thus far this decade (2020-2022).

Figure 7 compares the decade average growth rates for the Saginaw MSA noted in the previous graph with the corresponding decade averages for Michigan and the nation. As the chart reveals, the Saginaw MSA's average annual population growth lagged Michigan's average during the 1970s (0.33% vs. 0.52%), recorded under Michigan's average in the 1980s (-0.65% vs. 0.01%), fell below Michigan's average in the 1990s (-0.09% vs. 0.68%), trailed Michigan's average during the 2000s (-0.46% vs. 0.01%), trailed Michigan's average in the 2010s (-0.53% vs. 0.18%), and lagged Michigan's average over the 3 year period of the current decade, 2020-2022 (-0.38% vs. -0.15%).

Finally, relative to nationwide population growth trends, the Saginaw MSA recorded underneath the nation in the 1970s (0.33% vs. 1.10%), posted below the nation throughout the 1980s (-0.65% vs. 0.95%), recorded underneath the nation over the 1990s (-0.09% vs. 1.23%), posted below the nation throughout the 2000s (-0.46% vs. 0.95%), fell below the nation over the 2010s (-0.53% vs. 0.74%), and recorded underneath the nation over 2020-2022 (-0.38% vs. 0.31%).