Clark County's population reaches 1.4 million

LAS VEGAS - Clark County's population continues to explode, with new estimates showing 1.4 million people living in the valley.

The county has submitted a July 2000 population estimate of 1,428,690 to the state demographer's office, up from 1,321,319 at the same time in 1999, planning spokesman Don Matson said. That's an 8 percent increase.

''The numbers will go into the state's determining the funding that is distributed to the county,'' Matson said. ''We also use these numbers as a bench mark when it comes to the census, allowing us to give a thumbs up or thumbs down to those numbers.''

The 2000 U.S. Census Bureau figures will be released in March.

The county's calculations show that Henderson's population rose from 176,593 last year to 199,104 in 2000.

Las Vegas grew 22,511 people to 484,454. North Las Vegas went from 108,847 people in 1999 to 125,196 this year, and Mesquite grew from 12,308 to 15,637.

Unincorporated parts of the county showed a jump from 551,184 in 1999 to 588,748 this year.

Boulder City, which has growth control ordinances, had a slight decrease from 15,686 last year to 15,551.