Why Is Nevada's Rapid Population Growth

In recent years, Nevada has experienced unprecedented and rapid demographic changes. The most obvious example of this change is its rapid population growth. Nevada is currently one of the fastest growing states in the country, with a population estimation of 2,700,551 people in 2010. Migration has been one of the primary drivers of this population growth. Between 2000 and 2010, Nevada’s population increased by 35 percent. Roughly 73 percent of that population growth was attributed to migration. Large influxes of young Hispanic and Asian immigrants have helped keep Nevada’s population relatively young, and have assisted in lowering the dependency ratio, the ratio of working population to non-working population. In fact, the number of Hispanics
However, broken down by age cohorts, older age cohorts in both the United States and in Nevada are female leaning. Interestingly, Nevada’s sex ratio does not transition to majority female until after age 55, whereas in the United States, the sex ratio converts to majority female after age 35. This is potentially a consequence of high degrees of Hispanic and Asian immigration, as Hispanics and Asians tend to have the longer life expectancies than other ethnic groups. In addition, younger populations tend to have smaller life expectancy age gaps. The introduction of young Hispanics and Asians into the Nevada population could be reducing the life expectancy age gap between males and
As mentioned earlier, Nevada is one of the most racially diverse states in the country. Nevada has a smaller percentage of Whites (66.2 percent) relative to the United States (72.4 percent). In addition, 26.5 percent of Nevada’s population identified as Hispanic or Latino, far more than the U.S. at 16.5 percent. Of those 26.5 percent, 20 percent identified as Mexican compared to only 10.6 percent for the U.S., suggesting that a significant portion of the immigrants could be emigrating from Mexico. Additionally, Nevada has a much larger Asian population proportion (7.2 percent) than the United States (4.8 percent). Filipinos, at 3.6 percent, are nearly four times the national rate of 0.8 percent. Overall, Hispanics and Asians are projected to make up half of Nevada’s population in the coming years, making Nevada a