From the East Valley Tribune:

The economy may be in the tank. But people continue to move into Arizona – at least parts of it – in record numbers.

New figures Thursday from the U.S. Census Bureau show that Maricopa County added 89,550 people in the year ending June 30, 2008. That’s a change of 2.3 percent.

Potentially more significant, the number of people living in the state’s most populous county is up by more than 882,000 since the official count in 2000. And that numeric change, according to the Census Bureau, is not only the greatest of any county in the country. That difference alone is larger than the populations of six states.

There are caveats, of course. The study is backward-looking, and it covers a period of time prior to this economic downturn.

But still… The sun shines almost every day, and we’re an opportunity state for new business formation. And half of the Baby Boom will be retiring here.

The real estate market stinks pretty much everywhere right now. But it will recover first and strongest where the population is growing fastest.