Annual Census Bureau stats reflect state’s growth

Friday, Dec. 26, 1997 | 8:33 a.m.

The bureau compiles the abstract each year using information from local, state and federal agencies, producing a book crammed with nearly 1,700 tables and graphs.

About 100 new topics were added for the current edition - the 117th - allowing the bureau to chart, for example, Internet use for the first time. In the spring of this year, the abstract reveals, between 5 percent and 6 percent of households with incomes under $30,000 accessed the Internet in the previous 30 days. That compared with 27 percent of households with incomes of $50,000 or more.

The bureau ranks and compares states in more than two dozen categories, including population characteristics, economic indicators and social barometers such as the number of doctors and education levels of residents.

Nevada ranks well in many of the economic categories, especially for a state that is only the 38th most populated. Nevadans earn an average of $25,700 a year - 19th in the nation - and its teachers earn an average of $34,836 - 21st in the nation.

Bob Potts, a senior research associate at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas' Center for Business and Economic Research, said income is outpacing inflation in Clark County, though just barely at times. "The quality of life has improved as far as income," he said.

Nevada ranks 21st in the number of residents who hold down a job, another sign of a healthy economy, Potts said. In Southern Nevada, the job market gains its strength from two sectors - gaming and growth - and both are performing well.

"One thing you always want to watch is construction employment, which is very, very strong," Potts said.

Although Nevada ranks 38th in population and isn't projected to climb past 36th until 2000, the state continues to lead the nation in the overall growth rate, fueled by the seemingly unstoppable flow of people into Clark County.

The UNLV research center uses figures from the Department of Motor Vehicles to estimate the number of new Southern Nevada residents and Potts said the trends continue to point only one direction - up.

Between October 1996 and October of this year, he said, the DMV counted about 65,000 out-of-state driver's licenses turned in, including 7,791 this October alone.

Other nuggets from the abstract:

-Nevadans spend more than $26,000 per household in retail purchases, ranking fourth in the nation.

-More than eight out of 10 Nevadans live in an urban area, more than most Eastern states except for New Jersey, where 100 percent of residents are classified as urban.

-Nevada is short on doctors, with 159 per 100,000 population. That's 45th in the nation and well below the average of 230.

-Energy use is on the high side for a state this size. Nevadans consume 325.7 million British thermal units a year, 26th in the nation and above the national average of 322. Not surprisingly, given its need for heat, Alaska uses the most energy - 1,057 Btu a year.