Nevada posts 50 percent gain in population over decade

Thursday, March 9, 2000 | 10:57 a.m.

Clark County, with a population of 1.2 million, now has nearly 16,000 more residents than were counted in the entire state of Nevada 10 years ago.

Nevada's population overall has increased 50.6 percent over the decade, from 1.2 million to 1.8 million.

Nye County boasted the biggest percentage increase from 1990 to the 1999 estimates released Wednesday - 67.1 percent, from 17,781 to 29,709. That's primarily due to growth in Pahrump.

Clark County was next at 64.2 percent. It accounts for two-thirds of Nevada's overall population with 1,217,155, up from 741,369 in 1990.

Lyon County posted the biggest percentage gain in northern Nevada, up 57.3 percent, from 20,001 to 31,459, thanks to the growing suburbs of Fernley east of Reno and Dayton east of Carson City.

"I'm not surprised, with Dayton and Fernley being part of Lyon County," Barbara Peck, a long-time Dayton resident, said of the rankings. "It will be interesting to see what happens in the next five or 10 years."

Washoe County, encompassing Reno and Sparks, grew from 254,667 in 1990 to 319,816 in 1999 - a gain of 25.6 percent.

Douglas County's population increased 36.1 percent to 37,602, Carson City's increased 23.7 percent to 50,046 and Elko County's grew 35.9 percent to 45,465.

Only two Nevada counties lost population over the 10-year period and both were hit hard by downturns in the mining industry.

Mineral County dropped 20.1 percent, from 6,475 to 5,176 in the new estimates. Esmeralda County's population feel 16.6 percent, from 1,344 to 1,121.