This map shows a shaded-relief layer of the Western United States, with a transparent overlay of 2005 MSA population, taken from the US Census. This provides slightly finer resolution than using county population.
What strikes us the most is how populous the desert areas are becoming, as opposed to the mountains. The high desert in Arizona and SE California are growing rapidly (along with Las Vegas). The high-elevation populated areas include Salt-Lake City, Denver, and parts of the LA Suburbs. But watch population crawl east from Sacramento to Lake Tahoe, where it'll meet up with the growing Reno area.
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