An examination of the population growth in Stafford (below) in the ten-year increments of national censuses is always useful. Notice the population in 1860, prior to the Civil War. The departure of over 2,000 former slaves and destitute whites between 1860 and 1870 represents Stafford’s single greatest population decline. The fourteen censuses from 1870 to 2010 show only two very small declines and otherwise steady increases. After the 1970s growth became exponential.