Mountain Megas: America’s Newest Metropolitan Places

A Brookings and Metropolitan Policy Program forum in Denver highlighted opportunities created by the emerging metropolitan areas in the Intermountain West region.

America’s Intermountain West is experiencing some of the highest rates of population growth and economic/demographic change in the country. The region—consisting of Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah—has grown nearly three times faster than the United States as a whole over the past two decades, led by triple-digit population growth in Nevada. In short, the Intermountain region is becoming the new American Heartland as more and more people move to the area, making its economy, people, and politics more and more central to the nation.

On Tuesday, July 22, the authors of a new report, “Mountain Megas: America’s Newest Metropolitan Places and a Federal Partnership to Help Them Prosper” held a forum in Denver to discuss their findings. Opening remarks were made by Utah Governor Jon Huntsman and Colorado Governor Bill Ritter. The presentation was followed by a question-and-answer session with regional leaders.