In the growth game, Nevada holds a pair of aces: The fastest-growing city in the nation and the quickest-growing metropolitan area.
During the first half of the decade, the population of the Las Vegas metropolitan area increased 26.2 percent, from 852,646 to 1,076,267.Meanwhile, Henderson, Nev., became the fastest grower among cities with over 100,000 residents. Henderson swelled by 57 percent to a population of 101,997.
With those increases, Nevada became the fastest-growing state during the period from April 1990 to July 1994, census officials said.
Officials attributed Nevada's growth boom to its stable economy and affordable housing. People also are moving to Nevada from other states, many from California, said Edwin Byerly, a census statistician-demographer.
"People who would once move to California . . . are instead moving to California's neighbors, with Nevada being a prime destination," Byerly said.
Deborah Kuzik, marketing director of the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce, said Nevada's affordable housing market and its expanding economic base, which already depended heavily on gambling, were attracting newcomers.
"When most cities were suffering from the recession, the gaming in Las Vegas managed to bring our city through with a lot less of a bump," Kuzik said.
Money magazine recently ranked the gambling mecca as the ninth-best place to live in the country.
As it does every two years, the Census Bureau released population estimates Monday for the nation's 271 metropolitan areas and more than 36,000 cities, towns and other places.
Overall metropolitan-area population increased by 9.6 million, or 4.9 percent, and the areas were home to nearly 80 percent of U.S. residents. Population growth outside these areas was 2 million, or 3.9 percent.
Only one other metropolitan area with 1 million or more residents made it into the top 25 growth areas - Atlanta ranked 18th. The Atlanta area grew 12.6 percent to more than 3.3 million residents, the Census Bureau said.
All of the fastest-growing metropolitan areas are in the South or West.
The second-fastest growing metropolitan area during the period was Laredo, Texas, with 22.4 percent growth, the bureau said. The McAllen-Edinburg-Mission area of Texas was third at 20.2 percent, Yuma, Ariz., was forth with 19.4 percent and Boise, Idaho, fifth with 17.6 percent. No Utah cities were in the top 10.
Among the fastest-growing cities with populations greater than 100,000, Palmdale, Calif., was second at 47.2 percent growth. Chandler, Ariz. was third, with a growth rate of 32.7 percent, the bureau said.
Fifty-nine of the 209 U.S. cities with populations greater than 100,000 lost residents between 1990 and 1994. Twenty-two of those cities are in the Midwest, 19 are in the North, 12 are Southern cities and six are out West.
Five of the 10 most rapidly declining cities were in New England, with Hartford, Conn., experiencing the largest drop, 11.1 percent.