Editorial: What, no recount?

Newly released U.S. Census figures show that Nevada's 19-year reign as the nation's fastest-growing state is over.

The crown has been passed to Arizona, which saw a 3.6 percent population increase from July 2005 to July this year. Nevada's rate was 3.5 percent.

Arizona's influx, the Associated Press reports, is largely due to a migration of Californians, which was bolstered by foreign immigrants and more births than deaths.

Being No. 2 by a tenth of a percentage point is hardly a reason to weep. And while we'd never want to sound bitter (or gloat over the fact that we still have better restaurants and more visitors than that state to the southeast), it should be noted that a fair-sized chunk of Arizona's growth is occurring in the desert just north of Kingman - an area that is projected to be Southern Nevada's next bedroom community with more than 20,000 new homes. That figure is about 10 percent of 213,311 - the number of new residents Arizona gained during the past year.

All right, maybe that sounds a little bitter. But it is hard to ignore the fact that Nevada is building a $234 million bypass around Hoover Dam, which will make it easier to drive between the Las Vegas Valley and the sprawling communities that are popping up east of the Nevada-Arizona border. Discouraged by Southern Nevada's housing prices, some people are buying homes there and working here.

Besides, Nevadans who have grown used to boasting of the state's popularity still have reason to be smug. One Arizona State University researcher told AP that Arizona officials are feeling the strain of the newcomers and their needs. "All they can think about is getting the sewer lines out to the new housing and getting the roads in," the researcher said.

But like they say, Arizona, life is never easy at the top.

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