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 Calvert County with comparisons to Maryland and the nation at large. This analysis features alternative approaches toward discussing, diagnosing and comparing Calvert County vs. Maryland'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 Calvert County's annual population for the period 1969-2022 to illustrate population patterns over time. During this 54-year period, Calvert County's population rose from 20,358 in 1969 to 94,573 in 2022, for a net gain of 74,215, or 364.55%.

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 Maryland's annual population for the period 1969-2022 to illustrate population patterns over time. During this 54-year period, Maryland's population rose from 3,868,000 in 1969 to 6,164,660 in 2022, for a net gain of 2,296,660, or 59.38%.

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 Calvert County's population growth in a broader context by offering direct comparisons across time with Maryland, 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.

Calvert County's overall population growth was 364.55% over 1969-2022 outpaced Maryland's increase of 59.38%, and outpaced the United States' increase of 65.57%.

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

In 1969, Calvert County's population comprised 0.53% of Maryland's population, while in 2022 it totaled 1.53% thereby yielding a +1.01% share-shift.

Figure 5 shows the short-run pattern of Calvert 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 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, Calvert County's population grew at an annual rate of 2.96% over 1970-2022. The county posted its highest growth in 1977 (7.30%) and recorded its lowest growth in 2015 (-0.08%). In 2022, Calvert County's population grew by 0.37%

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 depicts the annual percent change in Calvert 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, Calvert County's annual population growth rate averaged 5.15%. It averaged 3.93% in the 1980s, 3.97% in the 1990s, 1.94% in the 2000s, 0.47% during the 2010s, 0.74% thus far this decade (2020-2022).

Figure 7 compares the decade average growth rates for Calvert County noted in the previous graph with the corresponding decade averages for Maryland and the nation. As the chart reveals, Calvert County's average annual population growth outgained Maryland's average in the 1970s (5.15% vs. 0.88%), outgained Maryland's average during the 1980s (3.93% vs. 1.14%), registered above Maryland's average in the 1990s (3.97% vs. 1.06%), led Maryland's average during the 2000s (1.94% vs. 0.87%), recorded under Maryland's average throughout the 2010s (0.47% vs. 0.73%), and outpaced Maryland's average over the 3 year period of the current decade, 2020-2022 (0.74% vs. 0.01%).

Finally, relative to nationwide population growth trends, Calvert County recorded above the nation over the 1970s (5.15% vs. 1.10%), outperformed the nation in the 1980s (3.93% vs. 0.95%), outpaced the nation throughout the 1990s (3.97% vs. 1.23%), surpassed the nation in the 2000s (1.94% vs. 0.95%), recorded underneath the nation in the 2010s (0.47% vs. 0.74%), and recorded above the nation over 2020-2022 (0.74% vs. 0.31%).