Wednesday, December 22, 2010

10 Fastest-Growing States

Now that the new Census data has been released, CNN put together a list of the 10 fastest growing states. You might be surprised to see some of the states that made the top 10. You can find a portion of the article below, or check out the full list at CNN Money.com.

Nevada

Population: 2,700,551

Growth rate: 35.1%

Unemployment rate: 14.3%

Nevada was a very sleepy place for nearly a century, with a state population of just over 160,000 in 1950.

Hoover Dam helped change all that, bringing cheap power to Vegas to light all that neon and glitz.

The state's population exploded since then, growing by at least 50% every decade from 1950 through 2000. The recession took a bite out of that growth rate, however. In 2009 the state only swelled by 1%.

Arizona

Population: 6,392,017

Growth rate: 24.6%

Unemployment rate: 9.4%

Arizona's population has nearly quadrupled since 1970, no doubt benefiting from the rise of air conditioning.

The recession, however, has slowed migration to Arizona. Phoenix, for example had a net gain of about 50,000 residents from 2007 to 2008, about half its average during the boom years.

Read more here