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The 'Mountain States' (also known as the 'Mountain West') form one of the nine geographic divisions of the United States that are officially recognized by the United States Census Bureau.
The division consists of eight states: Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming. Together with the Pacific States of Alaska, California, Hawaii, Oregon and Washington, the Mountain States constitute the broader region of the 'West', one of the four regions the United States Census Bureau formally recognizes (the 'Northeast', 'South' and 'Midwest' being the other three). The word "Mountain" refers to the Rocky Mountains, which run north-south throughout the division, and also to Mountain Standard Time, which is observed in the entire division except Nevada in its entirety and the Idaho panhandle; in addition, Arizona is one hour behind the other Mountain States (but for the aforementioned exceptions) from the second Sunday in March until the first Sunday in November, because daylight saving time is not observed in Arizona.^[1]
Since the late 1960s, the Mountain States have moved to challenge the Southern States for the distinction of being the nation's most politically Republican geographical entity; this trend has been bolstered by the migration of the earlier, more conservative settlers of the West Coast and their descendents away from the area after the massive migration of other Americans, largely from the Northern United States, to the West Coast after World War II. This is the case especially in California where many of the earlier, pre-World War II residents moved to eastern California and/or the Mountain States.
The brand of conservatism espoused by some in the region has at times manifested itself in extreme ways as several Patriot/Militia groups with Neo-Nazi tendencies have established their headquarters in parts of Idaho and Montana. However, there is a clear distinction from the American Bible Belt, with the philosophy of Mountain States citizens often being much more libertarian and based upon individualism. Some argue its foundation is the Wild West and solitary cowboy traditions.
In their geopolitical book ''The Day America Told The Truth'', James Patterson and Peter Kim place most of the territory found within the Mountain States in a ''moral region'' they label 'Marlboro Country', with the division's eastern and southern salients being slotted into their 'Granary' and 'L.A.-Mex' regions respectively.

Contents

Demographics

References

Demographics

As of 2000, the Mountain States had a combined population of 18,172,295. This number was estimated to increase 11.66% to 20,291,305 by 2005. The Mountain region covers 856,078 square miles of land, and has an average population density of 21.23 people per square mile.

'States in the Mountain Region'

State	2005 Est.	Land Area	Density
Arizona ★	5,939,292 ''(1st)''	113,635 ''(3rd)''	45.15 ''(1st)''
Colorado	4,665,177 ''(2nd)''	103,718 ''(5th)''	41.47 ''(2nd)''
Idaho	1,429,096 ''(6th)''	82,747 ''(7th)''	15.64 ''(5th)''
Montana	935,670 ''(7th)''	145,552 ''(1st)''	6.20 ''(7th)''
Nevada	2,414,807 ''(4th)''	109,826 ''(4th)''	18.19 ''(4th)''
New Mexico ★	1,928,384 ''(5th)''	121,356 ''(2nd)''	14.99 ''(6th)''
Utah	2,469,585 ''(3rd)''	82,144 ''(8th)''	27.19 ''(3rd)''
Wyoming	509,294 ''(8th)''	97,100 ''(6th)''	5.09 ''(8th)''

''
★ Sometimes not included in the Mountain States region''

'Largest Cities in the Mountain Region'

	City	2000 Pop.
1	Phoenix, Arizona ★	1,321,045
2	Denver, Colorado	554,636
3	Tucson, Arizona ★	486,699
4	Las Vegas, Nevada	478,434
5	Albuquerque, New Mexico ★	448,607
6	Mesa, Arizona ★	396,375
7	Colorado Springs, Colorado	360,890
8	Aurora, Colorado	276,393
9	Glendale, Arizona ★	218,812
10	Scottsdale, Arizona ★	202,705
11	Boise, Idaho	185,787
12	Salt Lake City, Utah	181,743
13	Reno, Nevada	180,480
14	Chandler, Arizona ★	176,581
15	Henderson, Nevada	175,381
16	Tempe, Arizona ★	158,625
17	Lakewood, Colorado	144,126
18	Fort Collins, Colorado	118,652
19	North Las Vegas, Nevada	115,488
20	Gilbert, Arizona ★	109,697
21	West Valley City, Utah	108,896
22	Peoria, Arizona ★	108,364
23	Provo, Utah	105,166
24	Centennial, Colorado	102,757
25	Arvada, Colorado	102,153
26	Pueblo, Colorado	102,121
27	Westminster, Colorado	100,940
28	Boulder, Colorado	94,673
29	Billings, Montana	89,847
30	Sandy, Utah	88,418

''
★ Sometimes not included in the Mountain States region'' hello

References

1. http://www.infoplease.com/spot/daylight1.html Infoplease: Daylight Saving Time, A trip around the world reveals that time isn't a synchronized science