Nevada has returned to the top spot in state population growth.

The Census Bureau is releasing new figure Thursday saying the Silver State increased in population by 2.9-percent in the year ending July 1 — reaching 2.6 million people.

Nevada had been the nation’s fastest-growing state for 19 years in a row before iti was bumped off by Arizona last year.

Arizona’s the second-fastest-growing state according to the current estimate — up 2.8-percent, to 6.3 million people.

The census says Louisiana appears to be rebounding from the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, gaining 50,000 residents. But it’s still far from returning to its pre-Katrina population level of 4.5 million.

The fastest-growing states continue to be in the Rocky Mountain region and the Southeast. Texas also is still attracting new residents at a rapid rate.

Two states lost population. Michigan’s population dipped by three-tenths of a percent and Rhode Island saw a decrease of four-tenths of a percent. Ohio’s growth was virtually flat.

(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

Well, we were edged out by Memphis and New Orleans, but Las Vegas got third! Woo-hoo! Except that the list is called the most “sedentary” (read: Lazy). Anyway, Forbes claims their research shows 64 percent of Las Vegas residents are overweight or obese and watch 38 hours of TV per week (thank you Las Vegas!).

I suppose those numbers don’t lie, but with the great weather, abundance of parks, bike lanes and recreation areas, it seems we should have ranked better. What  are your thoughts?

Here is the top 10 list (read the entire story here):

1. Memphis
2. New Orleans
3. Las Vegas
4. Detroit
5. Birmingham
6. Louisville
7. San Antonio
8. Nashville
9. Miami

The number of people visiting Las Vegas decreased by an estimated 432 people from October 2006 to the same month this year, according to the latest statistics released by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. For the year as a whole, visitor volume has increased by about 0.8 percent.

The good news is that the people that did come to Las Vegas spent more, on average, during their stay. Gaming revenue in October was up a healthy 12.5 percent in Clark County, totaling over $1 billion for the month. That number pushed the yearly total to almost $9.1 billion, a 4.1 percent increase over 2006.

These numbers come in spite of the fact that convention attendance is down substantially this year over last. The number of conventions held in Las Vegas fill by 13 percent to 2,623, resulting in attendance numbers dropping by 21.2 percent.

The complete report, including numbers for Laughlin and Mesquite, can be found on the LVCCA’s website.

According to the National Insurance Crime Bureau, Las Vegas is now the United States’ car theft capital. Las Vegas has steadly risen in the ranks of car theft, claiming the number three spot in 2004, number two in 2005, and now all the way to number one.

The ranking is based on the theft rate in a given metro area. In 2006, there were 1,310 cars stolen in the Las Vegas metro area for every 100,000 people.

Cities in the western United States dominate the list, with 17 of the top 20 cities being the highest rates of car theft. Click more to see the top twenty.

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Clark County released the finding of a study today that showed the county’s population has surpassed 2 million people. Of that figure, it is estimated that 603,093 people lived in Las Vegas city limits, while 877,233 reside in unincorporated areas of Clark County. You can read the entire press release after the jump.

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