HOA-loaded areas lead nation's growth
From CNN: (see quote from Robert Lang in bold at the end)
Arizona town leads nation in population growth
Thursday, July 10, 2003 Posted: 10:10 AM EDT (1410 GMT)
GILBERT, Arizona (AP) -- Searching for an affordable place to open a business and a quiet community to raise his daughter, Darrell Miklos left California a month ago to settle in this affluent suburb.

Gilbert, 20 miles southeast of Phoenix, offered what Miklos felt was a good deal on a house. He also decided to open a new location for his boat manufacturing business in nearby Mesa.

"Arizona is a godsend when compared to California," Miklos said.

Many here in Gilbert would agree. The town had the biggest population jump in the nation between April 2000 and July 2002, according to estimates released this week by the U.S. Census Bureau.

Gilbert has grown by nearly 25 percent in the two-year period, beating out swelling suburbs around Las Vegas, Los Angeles and San Diego for the title of nation's fastest-growing community. It now has 135,000 residents.

The census found that while some of new residents left larger nearby cities, much of the metropolitan growth was attributed to the continued migration to the South and West.

"Most of the places aren't job centers. They are mostly residential, master-planned, large-scale and very homeowners-association heavy," said Robert Lang, a demographer with the Metropolitan Institute at Virginia Tech.