9 Reasons Why We Love Living in Las Vegas

One of our favorite reasons to live here is the great restaurants. Although most Vegas locals don’t eat at the restaurants on The Strip very often, we can visit them on special occasions (or whenever we feel the urge).

But the great food doesn’t end where The Strip ends. It extends to pretty much everywhere in the Vegas Valley. That’s because many chefs and cooks who learn and hone their craft at the fine Strip restaurants eventually open up restaurants off-Strip, at locals’ casinos, in gambling taverns and in everyday Strip malls near the residential communities.

Locals can access countless great culinary-focused restaurants, sushi, Italian, and Latin America (including Mexican), Hawaiian, and more. Specifically, you can find pretty much every Asian cuisine imaginable in Chinatown and elsewhere around town.

It is hard to imagine another city like Las Vegas that has so many entertainment venues and acts that either have residencies or tour here. We have artist residencies, touring concerts, headliners, comedy, magic, family-friendly shows, and Cirque shows.

The major entertainment venues in Vegas include Allegiant Stadium, where the largest concerts are held, The Sphere, T-Mobile Arena, MGM Grand Arena, and Michelob Ultra Arena at Mandalay Bay.

But literally every Strip resort has a major theater capable of hosting an A or B-level artist residency or touring act. Not to mention, Vegas has the Smith Center–a top-notch venue for touring Broadway shows.

Vegas is home to two of the four major professional sports – The Vegas Golden Knights of the NHL and Las Vegas Raiders of the NFL. The Oakland A’s are in the process of moving to Vegas. See our article about the top names of the new potential hotel next to A’s future stadium.

It’s also worth mentioning that various parties are vying to bring an NBA team to Vegas in the next few years.

As you know by now, Vegas is now in the rotation to host the Super Bowl every few years, major college football and basketball championships, the NFL Draft, Formula 1, the NBA Summer League, and more.

On this last point, F1 caused a lot of disruption to locals in its first year in 2023, and we hope to see improvement in the coming years.

If attending NFL or NHL games regularly is out of your price range, Vegas has a wide variety of other live sports with lower price points, including the two-time defending WNBA champion Las Vegas Aces.

UNLV men’s basketball games are also on our list of must-see Vegas sports.

Nine months of the year are great. No shoveling snow–although we have places to see snow. No heavy coats. Vegas has a short Fall, a mild Winter, and a phenomenal Spring with several weeks in the 70s and 80s.

There are no…

• Blizzards
• Hurricanes
• Nor’easters
• Mudslides
• Wildfires

Only very rare earthquakes here.

Let’s now address the elephant in the basement. It is hot here in the Summer. From mid-June through the end of August, you are lucky to see a single day with a high temperature under 100 degrees.

However, here are a couple of things to consider:

1. It is a dry heat, so A/C works really well.
2. Vegas is usually still cool enough to get outdoors and exercise before 8 am in the Summer.
3. After your first Summer here, your body adapts to the heat.
4. The Summer only lasts three months.
5. You can get out of town for parts of the Summer, which many locals choose to do.

This could be an article of its own.

In fact, we have written a few articles about the many outdoor activities and quick trips in and around Las Vegas, including:

• Best Hidden Running Trails
• Best Day Tours from Vegas
• Best Road Trips From Vegas in Under an Hour
• Going to Mount Charleston

Additionally, Vegas is a four to five-hour drive from the beaches of California–specifically, LA, Orange County, and San Diego—a three—to four-hour drive from the Mighty Five National Parks of Utah and a four-hour drive from the Grand Canyon.

Las Vegas has been and still is the land of opportunity for job seekers.

Aside from the oil fields of Louisiana, the Dakotas, or Alaska, Las Vegas is the one place in the U.S. where you can move and have many opportunities to earn six figures per year without a college degree.

That doesn’t mean everyone who lives here does, but for example, we know several waiters/waitresses who work at Strip restaurants, valet attendants, casino marketers, etc., that earn six figures.

If you are more of the corporate type, because the City is growing and businesses are growing, promotions and career growth opportunities can also be found here.

Please note that this article does not constitute tax advice, and readers should consult their tax advisors.

For those of you who have ‘made it’ economically already, taxes may be an important consideration for where to live. Because tourism and gambling drive so much economic activity in Vegas, local residents benefit from that. As a result, Nevada does not have a state income tax.

So unlike a state like California, where residents in the top income bracket may have to pay a 12.3% top state tax rate, residents in the same tax bracket (or any tax bracket) in Nevada would owe zero in state income taxes.

The tax benefits also extend to reasonable property taxes. In Clark County, property taxes for residential property equate to approximately 1% of the market value.

Moreover, a tax cap was implemented a few years ago, which means that property taxes for the same residence will not increase more than 3% per year.

One drawback that some argue is due to the low tax regime is that Las Vegas has one of the lowest-ranked school systems in the country.

Home prices are still reasonable, with the median existing home in Las Vegas selling for around $450,000 in the Spring of 2024. Although the median existing home prices are up substantially from around $250,000 a decade ago and around $350,000 during the peak of COVID-19, they are still far lower than in California.

In addition to reasonable home prices, it is also important to point out that because Vegas is a fairly young growing City, the homes are generally newer than in other parts of the U.S.

If you are still a renter, lease rates in Vegas are still reasonable—especially considering the strong job market. According to Apartments.com, the May 2024 Las Vegas average monthly rents for apartments are $1,266, or 16% below the national average.

PREMIER TIP: If you are moving to Vegas with school-age children, we suggest asking your realtor for information about the best school area to consider in your search.

Although Las Vegas is more than 150 years old, it is still a young area because up until 30 or 40 years ago, it was still a smaller community.

Because of that, Vegas does not have the same established institutions and non-profit organizations that may exist in older cities like New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Chicago, and Los Angeles. But because it is less established, you can make a greater impact here, especially if you want to get involved in the community.

People move here from everywhere. And because of that, you can reinvent yourself and be who you want.