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By J. Patrick Coolican (contact) 
Published Wednesday, Dec. 23, 2009 | 8:53 a.m.
Updated Wednesday, Dec. 23, 2009 | 10:04 a.m.
Nevada’s days of red-hot growth appear to be finished, at least for now.
In an early morning press release, the Census Bureau estimates Nevada was home to 2.64 million people on July 1, 2009, which is roughly 1 percent more than in July 2008.
The fastest growing states were Wyoming, Utah and Texas, which grew at about twice the rate of Nevada.
California remains the most populous state with 37 million people, with Texas second with nearly 25 million.
Census officials note that both Nevada and Florida, which have long welcomed tens of thousands of new residents from other states every year, both experienced “out-migration” to other states – more people left Nevada and Florida than moved in.
Of Nevada’s modest growth of 27,000 new people, 20,000 were the result of childbirth; 11,000 moved here from abroad while 4,000 Nevadans left and moved to other states.
The Census will conduct its official count of every American in 2010, as mandated by the U.S. Constitution. That count will in turn be used to determine how many congressional seats are awarded to each individual state.
Nevada is expected to win an additional congressional seat, bringing the state’s total to four.
Economists and policymakers have been eagerly awaiting the Census estimate to help them determine whether new population would help ease a glut in residential and commercial real estate, and whether Nevadans are leaving the state to find work elsewhere, as now appears likely.
For the better part of nearly two decades, Nevada was the fastest growing state in the nation, adding 3.5 percent, for instance, between 2005 and 2006, or more than three times the rate of last year’s growth.
More bad news...but something we all expected.
Will it get worse?
It will get worse if Sleazy Reid remains in office.
"11,000 people moved here from abroad".
I'll bet most of them were from Europe and the Far East. No way they were from any neighboring countries. Funny how people stay in their own places-borders and culture is important to them.
it's never coming back, folks.
most of the growth we saw was to support the growth itself.
we were building homes...so we needed to build homes for the people building those homes, and we needed grocery stores for those people, so we needed people to build those grocery stores, so we needed to build homes for those people building those stores, etc.
vegas is built. it's done.
unless there is some kind of huge turn-around in the NATIONAL economy to get tourists coming again, this town is over at the local level.
Im all for population growth out here coming to a halt or even reversing some. Theres to many people out here anyways. Less people means less traffic. The 11,000 that moved here from abroad have to be mostly asian.
Somehow the numbers don't add up....you mean to tell me that not ONE person moved to Vegas that was not from abroad???? Really? But since when the government numbers add up anyway, so no surprise there
Also, those 11,000 had to include a good portion from the Middle East, the ones escaping their war torn country, Iraq, and don't forget the Iranians (aka Persians), who (contrary to what comes out of DC) have a strong connection to the United States and have for many years.
11,000 from abroad.
50,000 from mexico.
50,000 from Mexico seems a sober assessment. From my perspective (which may not always be so sober), Las Vegas appears to be almost half Hispanic.
Very Scary , Many People Have Left Town ... California Is Scary Too ,,, Same Thing ...
lennybeachboy - where do you get your info? California? scary? i don't think so. People leaving California? Maybe a few but our population still grew. Nothing like Las Vegas.
As i sit here in my backyard in the Hollywood Hills looking over the LA basin I know California has its share of problems but life pout here is still "PARADISE"!
felix28 and all-
Paradise? maybe sometimes. I moved to Vegas from LA after 32 years there. Smog, horrendous traffic, earthquakes, restaurants are expensive, insurance is expensive, Housing is super expensive, parking $20 every 20 minutes, competition with the Jonese's etc. etc.
Paradise? I think not. Just another pretty place until the earth moves. Than we will have 100,000 people running to Vegas again. Just an opinion of someone that's left LA 17 years ago.
For once I agree with Stevem. It's time to get back to basics. Good Grief!!! What did Vegas do before the mega resorts/hotels/casinos? We lived normal lives. Let's do the damn thing!!!
The Mexicans were behind the growth and the growing real estate prices... they would buy the old houses, so people could move up and buy new ones (often built by Mexicans).
Socal Real Estate prices have tanked in a number of areas. They can't get the money out of their houses to move here or find jobs.
We need a program to demolish old buildings to increase demand.
I welcome the exodus of some people from Las Vegas. I prefer Las Vegas to have a smaller population and not become a metropolis like LA or New York. I have been here for the past 24 years, I love it here, the slower pace of life away from the Strip and the fast pace and world class lifestyle on the Strip. There will be people still moving to Las Vegas but not to the extent the city experienced in the past. Goodluck to Las Vegas, my home!!!!
I'm not sure if it was discussed here by any of the commentors, but did any one stop to think that this article is solely based on an "estimate" from the census bureau?
I checked the methodology section of the census website and how they determine the numbers is not clear to me and seems very random and subjective. It also appears that these census bureau estimates are often challenged by the local goverments.
As this article said, the actual number will not be known until the official count is done in 2010. I don't get why the media/LV Sun blows this out of proportion stating "its official-Census confirms" in their headlines. At this point, I don't see how they have confirmed anything. Nothing is official or confirmed until 2010.
I imagine this is the medias constant way of trying to spread doom & gloom and try to cause friction and conflict in an already fragile society. Until either the media or society stops buying into this garbage reporting, we will never work together on solving issues, think more positively and move forward.
Oh.. and Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
It is no coincidence Europe is growing more coherently. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.