How many people lived in Las Vegas 30 years ago?
Back in 1996, the UNLV’s Center for Business and Economic development projected that Clark County would have 2.26 million residents by 2024.
Turns out they weren’t far off as this year the same report, the 2024-2060 Population Forecasts has the county’s population at 2.41 million, so 26 years ago they were only off by approximately 147,000 residents.
Clark County is expected to hit 3 million residents in 2042, and the 1996 report estimated the county would break 2.5 million residents by 2034. This year’s report has Clark County breaking 2.5 million residents by 2027.
Andrew Woods, director of the Center for Business and Economic Research at UNLV and one of the authors of the CBER report said there is a long history in the valley of population projections.
“From what I was told, we started doing this on our own in the early 1990s when the population was really booming and there were competing forecasts,” he said. “Sometime around 1997 there was agreement at least among local government entities to focus on one forecast which I credit my predecessor, Dr. Keith Schwer, with achieving.”