That’s a big part of it, but there was large growth of illegals from south of the border, as well as people moving in from other states. I seriously doubt that anyone from any other region can visually or viscerally relate to how fast Vegas grew since 1990, especially if they are from stagnant areas with very limited growth like the midwest or northeast industrial cities.
I came thru Vegas back in ‘63, on a Honda 50 cc motorcycle.
The road south to the dam was a dinky two-laner.
MY next trip there was in ‘94.
I thought I was in the middle of the main runway at DFW airport!