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For almost all of my life Arizona was the fastest
growing state in the Union.
Sure move people move to Los Angles every month then
people move to Arizona all year.
But because Arizona has such a small population
Arizona has always been faster growing when you
cacualte the percent of the growth rate.
In the last few years Nevada has become a faster growing state then Arizona. Again it ain't cuz Nevada is growing faster then Arizona, it isn't. But because Nevada is so small the growth rate is much faster then that of Arizona. With that in mind I was suprized when I read this article which said Nevada actually lost people.
Nevada to see rare population drop by Haya El Nasser - Nov. 8, 2010 12:00 AM USA Today The recession and housing bust have accomplished what no other economic slump has managed to in the past century: end Nevada's population-growth streak. The fastest-growing state for 19 consecutive years until 2006 will see its population drop an estimated 70,000, or 2.6 percent, this year to 2.64 million, Nevada's state demographer predicts. It would be the largest annual drop for a state since thousands of Louisiana residents were displaced by Hurricane Katrina, slicing that state's population 5.7 percent to 4.2 million in 2006. The last time Nevada suffered a decline was in 1920, when its population totaled 77,407 - about the number the state expects to lose this year. The drop reflects the toll the recession and foreclosure crisis is taking on once rapidly growing communities in states such as Arizona, Florida and California. "The major loss (in Nevada) is happening between now and 2013," says Jeff Hardcastle, state demographer at the University of Nevada-Reno. "In a state that has two main industries - gaming and construction - people realize we're not in a good situation." Nevada has had the highest state foreclosure rate for 15 quarters. One in every 29 housing units received a foreclosure filing in the third quarter of this year - almost five times the national average, according to RealtyTrac. Nevada also tops all other states in unemployment - 14.4 percent compared with 9.6 percent nationwide. Construction employment, which peaked at 148,800 in June 2006, fell to 60,400 in September. Total employment dropped from 1.3 million in May 2007 to about 1.1 million earlier this year. "Our economy is very depressed," says Richard Holmes, deputy general manager of the Southern Nevada Water Authority. "But the growth pressures and growth trends we think are going to keep our metropolitan area on the growth curve." Economic diversification tops the state's agenda, says Robert Lang, urban sociologist at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas. "It's a signal for a shift in the Sun Belt," he says. "Reliance on growth due to in-migration is, in the short-term, not sustainable." |