West’s buttons
popping
The 10 fastest
growing states in the nation are in the West. According to federal
Census Bureau figures, Nevada grew fastest in 1992-93, with a 3.9
percent growth rate, followed by Idaho at 3.1 percent and Colorado
at 2.9 percent. Reid Reynolds, a Colorado state demographer,
attributes the surge to strong economies in the West relative to
the rest of the nation. In Colorado, 70,000 more people moved to
the state than left in 1992-93, for the largest population increase
since the oil boom in the 1970s. Reynolds estimates that nearly
one-third of the new arrivals are Californians trying to escape
their state’s sluggish economy. “When California sneezes, we feel
it,” says Reynolds. Growth rates in other Western states were 2.7
percent for Utah and Arizona, 2.2 percent for New Mexico and
Washington, 2.1 percent for Montana, 2.0 percent for Oregon, and
1.2 percent for Wyoming.
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline West’s buttons popping.
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