The Empty Southwest: Why "No One" Lives In This Region Of The United States

One factor you didn't mention is that probably half of that land is either controlled by the federal government or is autonomous native american land (includes the entire four corners and a quarter of Arizona).

The empty southwest is a truly magical place. Remember driving on I-10 from Texas back to LA and had to pull over on the side of the highway in southern NM just because the scenery was so...haunting and enchanting.

I actually live in Flagstaff, Arizona. The geology around here is actually pretty cool. We are on top of a volcanic field. The San Fransisco volcanic field. And we have huge mountain peaks here that are about 11-12,000ft. Although flagstaff itself is at 7k ft. The mountains around here are dormant volcanoes. It doesn't get hot here like southern arizona.

Correction: The Saguaro (pronounced sa-Wah-ro) cactus grows primarily in the Sonoron Desert, which is to the west of the Chihuahuan Desert.

I chose to live out in Belen NM because an acre of land was cheaper than a month of rent in the city. Lucky enough to have a friendly neighbor with a well & smart enough to setup rainwater harvesting systems. People across the world thrive in even harsher environments. Research the "Tuscon swales". Natural buildings (adobe) are exceedingly easy to build given the rich clay/sandy soil. Giving up modern luxuries to live a humble, impoverished but empowered & natural life is a breath of fresh air in our era of industrial instability.

I grew up on the southern plains. It is flat. It is VERY flat. And very dry. There's a saying "Lubbock Texas isn't' hell, but you can see it from there," (with different versions depending on which town you live in). I'm surprised that when you were talking about water sources, you didn't mention the Ogalala Aquifer.

The water stress in cities like phoenix and las vegas is a real concern given the exponential growth. Longer term, these areas should stop building massive swimming pools, tropical themed neighborhoods, and fountains so that residents have enough water to survive. Increase the penalties when valuable fresh water is misused for vanity projects.

There is also Mexicali, a city around 1M people contrasting Calexico which has less than 50K people

Tiny quibble: The desert scene with the saguaro cacti is of the Sonoran Desert, not the Chihuahuan. A point for consideration: Whether Taos Pueblo and Acoma Pueblo in New Mexico qualify as "cities" by geographers' definitions. If yes, THEY are possibly the oldest cities in the contiguous USA, each having been established about 1,000 years ago.

I grew up in Dallas. After spending the majority of my life in Dallas I moved out to El Paso. The 10 hour drive is brutal as my back & lets hurt from sitting for so long. Once I got out of Ft. Worth into Weatherford & saw the sign for El Paso at 545 miles I knew I was in for a long damn ride. But to me it was interesting to see the gradual change of vegetation down to dry shrubs, yucca, nopal cactus & creosote. I love the desert. I don't care what anyone says. I'd love to get lost in the desert & die in the desert on a spirit quest. The song by America was stuck in my head-Been to the desert on a horse with no name it felt good to be out of the rain. In the desert you can't remember your name Cause there ain't no one for to give you no pain. I am glad I am here. Sure beats all that severe weather, tornados, humidity and other crap you have back in DFW.

I loved my time living in El Paso, and being next door to Juarez makes the contiguous city a large metro area with about 3M+ people. Jobs took me away, but it has wonderful memories and culture on both sides of the border.

A lifelong Midwest boy. I've lived near El Paso for 4.5 years. I'm amazed at the beauty of the land and people of New Mexico. It's my new favorite state. I may retire there

Saguaro cactus only grow in the Sonoran Desert, not the Chihuahuan desert

I live by the region you're saying, in El Paso, Texas, at the extreme western panhandle of Texas. And yes we have the the typical desert weather, but not like Phoenix, because as a high altitude desert overlooking the southern tip of the Rocky mountains, we do have cold although bearable winters, that's why weather wise we aren't as attractive for guys that like spring like winters in Phoenix. And as you can see in the map, we are quite remote and as the city name implies, we been for centuries a mountain pass that the Rio Grande cut through and a crossroads to either California, the Rocky mountains and the Great Plains.

Grew up in the "empty" region. Odessa Texas. It was a good place to grow up but I left after college (Lubbock Tx) to more habitable regions. I do like going back for drives there. No traffic and wide open views.

You stated that Amarillo's population is around 270,000. I think you might have meant to say Lubbock's population. Amarillo's population is a little over 200,000 from what I've seen.

I’m from that region. It’s a harsh landscape, with little water, and meager economic opportunities. I now live in the NYC area, and the contrast is steeper than we even make it out to be. Also, there are no saguaros in the Chihuahuan desert. That’s the Sonoran desert.

The Juárez metro population 2.5M residents figure you gave also takes into consideration the El Paso and Las Cruces populations. The Juárez metro population excluding them is 1.5M across the city proper and the population in the Juárez Valley

There are 4 deserts in the US, each identified by certain plant species. Saguaros are the identifying plant and native to the Sonoran Desert only, not the Chihuahuan Desert. The Chihuahuan Desert identifiers are several species of Yucca. The Mojave Desert is identified by the Joshua Tree. And the High Desert is identified by several species of Sage Brush.

I live in Washington State about 50 miles south of Seattle in the foothills of the cascade range by Mt. Rainer. Green, green, green. Visited Farmington New Mexico and drove around the area. Beautiful sites to see, rocks, sand, rock formations were beautiful. After seeing those sites for about 3 weeks, I had to get the hell out.