ROANOKE TIMES 

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, February 8, 1994                   TAG: 9402080044
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

LAS VEGAS LEADS GROWTH IN METROPOLITAN AREAS

Las Vegas, the glittering gambling resort in the Nevada desert, was the fastest growing metropolitan area in the United States in the early 1990s, the Census Bureau said Monday. Only two other metro areas - Laredo, Texas, and Yuma, Ariz. - reported double-digit growth.

Las Vegas grew by 13.9 percent between 1990 and 1992, to a population of 971,169.

There were 203.2 million people living in the nation's 268 government-recognized metro areas in July 1992, an increase of 2.8 percent since April 1990. The number of people living outside metropolitan areas grew by 1.8 percent, to 51.9 million.

New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island is the largest metro area, with 19.7 million people, up 0.6 percent.

Of the 10 largest areas, Houston grew the fastest, by 6.2 percent. Only one of the top 10 lost population: Boston, down 0.3 percent. 


 by CNB