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 Cape Coral-Fort Myers MSA with comparisons to Florida and the nation at large. This analysis features alternative approaches toward discussing, diagnosing and comparing the Cape Coral-Fort Myers MSA vs. Florida's population growth over 1969-2021. 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 Cape Coral-Fort Myers MSA's annual population for the period 1969-2021 to illustrate population patterns over time. During this 53-year period, the Cape Coral-Fort Myers MSA's population rose from 99,376 in 1969 to 787,976 in 2021, for a net gain of 688,600, or 692.9%.

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 Florida's annual population for the period 1969-2021 to illustrate population patterns over time. During this 53-year period, Florida's population rose from 6,641,000 in 1969 to 21,781,128 in 2021, for a net gain of 15,140,128, or 228.0%.

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 Cape Coral-Fort Myers MSA's population growth in a broader context by offering direct comparisons across time with Florida, 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 Cape Coral-Fort Myers MSA's overall population growth was 692.9% over 1969-2021 outpaced Florida's increase of 228.0%, and topped the United States' increase of 64.9%.

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

In 1969, the Cape Coral-Fort Myers MSA's population totaled 1.5% of Florida's population, while in 2021 it equated to 3.6% thereby yielding a +2.1% share-shift.

Figure 5 displays the short-run pattern of the Cape Coral-Fort Myers MSA's population growth by tracking the year-to-year percent change over 1970-2021. The average annual percent change for the entire 52-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 Cape Coral-Fort Myers MSA's population grew at an annual rate of 4.08% over 1970-2021. The Cape Coral-Fort Myers MSA recorded its highest growth in 1972 (9.17%) and recorded its lowest growth in 2009 (0.21%). In 2021, the Cape Coral-Fort Myers MSA's population grew by 3.05%

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 Cape Coral-Fort Myers 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 2020-2021.

During the 1970s, the Cape Coral-Fort Myers MSA's annual population growth rate averaged 6.86%. It averaged 5.29% during the 1980s, 2.98% in the 1990s, 3.56% in the 2000s, 2.04% in the 2010s, 2.54% thus far this decade (2020-2021).

Figure 7 compares the decade average growth rates for the Cape Coral-Fort Myers MSA noted in the previous graph with the corresponding decade averages for Florida and the nation. As the chart reveals, the Cape Coral-Fort Myers MSA's average annual population growth topped Florida's average in the 1970s (6.86% vs. 3.62%), outperformed Florida's average in the 1980s (5.29% vs. 2.93%), outpaced Florida's average in the 1990s (2.98% vs. 2.23%), outgained Florida's average during the 2000s (3.56% vs. 1.70%), outpaced Florida's average during the 2010s (2.04% vs. 1.36%), and registered above Florida's average over the 2 year period of the current decade, 2020-2021 (2.54% vs. 0.99%).

Finally, relative to nationwide population growth trends, the Cape Coral-Fort Myers MSA recorded above the nation during the 1970s (6.86% vs. 1.10%), led the nation in the 1980s (5.29% vs. 0.95%), surpassed the nation throughout the 1990s (2.98% vs. 1.23%), outgained the nation throughout the 2000s (3.56% vs. 0.95%), outpaced the nation throughout the 2010s (2.04% vs. 0.74%), and outperformed the nation over 2020-2021 (2.54% vs. 0.25%).