Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

Las Vegas, Nevada, is one of the fastest growing metropolitan areas in the United States. Las Vegas grew from a population of 1,375,765 in 2000 to 1,951,269 in 2010, a 41.8% increase, third highest in the country for that decade. These images show the rapid growth of the city. The tip of Lake Mead is visible east of the city (dark area), where Hoover Dam impounds the Colorado River.

We have created an animation to make it easier to visualize the progression of the changes in Las Vegas. Click the subsection “Change Animation” to view that short video.

Population growth of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Area

Year	Population
2021	2,292,476
2010	1,951,269
2000	1,375,765
1992	863,000
1986	608,000
1972	273,000
1964	127,000

Imagery

Every picture has a story to tell

Sep. 13, 1972, Landsat 1 (path/row 42/35) — Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

Sep. 10, 1986, Landsat 5 (path/row 39/35) — Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

Sep. 10, 1992, Landsat 5 (path/row 39/35) — Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

Sep. 24, 2000, Landsat 7 (path/row 39/35) — Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

Aug. 11, 2010, Landsat 5 (path/row 39/35) — Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

Aug. 20, 2022, Landsat 9 (path/row 39/35) — Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

Correlated

Additional story information

Downloads

Trading Card

References (Earthshot Overview/Parent Only)

Auch, Roger, Taylor, Janis, and Acevedo, William, 2004, Urban Growth in American Cities—Glimpses of U.S. Urbanization: U.S. Geological Survey Circular 1252, 52 p. Available online at http://pubs.er.usgs.gov/publication/cir1252.

Christie, Les, 2011, 10 fastest-growing cities: CNNMoney, available at http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2011/real_estate/1103/gallery.Fastest_gr…. (Accessed February 15, 2012.)

Famighetti, Robert, ed., 1996, World almanac and book of facts 1997: New York, World Almanac Books, 975 p.

Glionna, J., 2015, Lake Mead water level falls to a landmark low, and is likely to get worse: Los Angeles Times, accessed March 18, 2016, at http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-lake-mead-low-20150429-story.html.

Homer, C.G., Dewitz, J.A., Yang, L., Jin, S., Danielson, P., Xian, G., Coulston, J., Herold, N.D., Wickham, J.D., and Megown, K., 2015, Completion of the 2011 National Land Cover Database for the conterminous United States-Representing a decade of land cover change information: Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing, v. 81, no. 5, p. 345–354.

Homer, C.H., Fry, J.A., and Barnes C.A., 2012, The National Land Cover Database, U.S. Geological Survey Fact Sheet 2012-3020, 4 p.

Las Vegas Wash Project Coordination Team, 2012, Las Vegas Wash Coordination Committee: Southern Nevada Water Authority, available at http://www.lvwash.org. (Accessed April 24, 2012.)

Multi-Resolution Land Characteristcs Consortium (MRLC), 2015, National Land Cover Database 2011 (NLCD 2011)—Product Legend: MRLC Web page accessed March 24, 2016, at http://www.mrlc.gov/nlcd11_leg.php.

NYCAviation, 2010, Las Vegas McCarran Int’l Airport history and general information: NYCAviation, available at http://nycaviation.com/spotting-guides/las/las-general-information. (Accessed February 15, 2012.)

U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, 2022, Lake Mead at Hoover Dam, End of Month Elevation (Feet): U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, accessed August 25, 2022, at http://www.usbr.gov/lc/region/g4000/hourly/mead-elv.html.

U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, 2022, Lower Colorado Water Supply Report: River Operations, Bureau of Reclamation, accessed August 25, 2022, at https://www.usbr.gov/lc/region/g4000/weekly.pdf.

U.S. Census Bureau, 2022, Metropolitan and Micropolitan Statistical Areas Population Totals and Components of Change--2020-2021: accessed August 25, 2022, at https://www.census.gov/data/tables/time-series/demo/popest/2020s-total-metro-and-micro-statistical-areas.html.

U.S. Geological Survey, 2014, National Land Cover Database 2011—Status and Plans: USGS Multimedia Gallery Web page, accessed April 1, 2016, at http://gallery.usgs.gov/videos/806#.Vv69b3rdeYg.

U.S. Geological Survey, 2015, The USGS Water Science School: USGS Web page, accessed April 1, 2016, at http://water.usgs.gov/edu/impervious.html.

Wickham, J., Homer, C., Vogelmann, J., McKerrow, A., Mueller, R., Herold, N., and Coulston, J., 2014, The Multi-Resolution Land Characteristics (MRLC) Consortium—20 Years of Development and Integration of USA National Land Cover Data: Remote Sensing, v. 6, no. 8, p. 7424–7441.

Xian, G., Homer, C., Dewitz, J., Fry, J., Hossain, N., and Wickham, J., 2011. The change of impervious surface area between 2001 and 2006 in the conterminous United States: Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing, v. 77, no. 8, p. 758–762.