Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Vegas, on average, is about the same temperature as Phoenix. I do understand both of your points though, they are similar. As a Phoenix native and being to Vegas several times, I see the correlation. Sometimes I see that Vegas is hotter every once in a while. Usually in the summertime, when the cold matters most
I was just referring to winter, since no city in America is cold in the summer (except maybe San Francisco ). Having lived in Phoenix for 8 years and Vegas for 4, I felt a distinct difference in winter temps between the two. Phoenix would very occasionally go just below freezing, and even then only at night. Daytime winter temps in Phoenix would normally climb up to around 70 degrees.
On the other hand, Las Vegas would sometimes maintain freezing temps well into the daytime, and there's a seemingly constant wind blowing through the Vegas valley all winter long. And then there was the snow factor. I never once saw snow in Phoenix, yet like I said, it snowed every single winter that I lived in Vegas. I'd have to guess that Las Vegas averages about 10 degrees colder in winter than Phoenix.
The summers are pretty much equally hellish in both cities, though maybe slightly worse in Phoenix.
Weather aside, both cities look a lot alike (once you factor out the Strip, as another poster said), and share similar growth patterns. Obviously Phoenix metro is about twice as big as Las Vegas metro, but the similarities are undeniable.
The politics are similar as well. Both cities lean right, though Las Vegas has this bogus image to some people as being a liberal town. I'm not sure why that is. Maybe it's the party atmosphere or the fact that Harry Reid is from Clark County, I'm not sure. Las Vegas was very conservative from my experience having lived there. Maybe even a little more so than Phoenix.
How are Phoenix and OKC's demographics even remotely similar. Way more Latinos in Phoenix plus OKC is far more socially conservative and church going than Phoenix as is Indy for that matter. Phoenix more like the Inland Empire + the Chicago suburbs in a Vegas or Palm Springs like setting with politics like Orange County except with a dose of Utah sprinkled in especially in the East valley suburbs.
According to Wikipedia, PHX is 66% white and OKC is 63% white, but yes PHX has more Hispanics and OKC has more blacks.
I'm still not convinced that the PHX area is not socially conservative, considering that 40% of the city proper is made up of Hispanics and blacks and the Eastern half of the metro is made up of Mormons, which you're seemingly aware of considering your own post. I feel that both PHX and OKC are rather moderate on social issues within the city proper, but are both socially and fiscally conservative when you look at the metro area as a whole.
I can see your connection between PHX and the Inland Empire; I agree completely. But I don't see how the PHX suburbs are anything like the Chicago suburbs. PHX suburbs aren't as dense as Oak Park and Evanston (not even Tempe), not as Jewish as Skokie, not as wealthy as the North Shore (no, not even Scottsdale), not as old as Joliet, not as diverse as South Chicagoland, there's nowhere in PHX that has the rolling hills and meadows of Saint Charles or Geneva, and there are no forest preserves in the PHX area at all. The Chicago suburbs don't host a massive state university.
I suppose you could draw some similarities between some of the PHX burbs and Schaumburg, but most suburbs in the country are like Schaumburg.
There is a place few have heard of, called Xineohp. It is Just like Phoenix but fickin freezin! Thats why I left an moved to the Pheen instead. Hot weather way better.
According to Wikipedia, PHX is 66% white and OKC is 63% white, but yes PHX has more Hispanics and OKC has more blacks.
I'm still not convinced that the PHX area is not socially conservative, considering that 40% of the city proper is made up of Hispanics and blacks and the Eastern half of the metro is made up of Mormons, which you're seemingly aware of considering your own post. I feel that both PHX and OKC are rather moderate on social issues within the city proper, but are both socially and fiscally conservative when you look at the metro area as a whole.
I can see your connection between PHX and the Inland Empire; I agree completely. But I don't see how the PHX suburbs are anything like the Chicago suburbs. PHX suburbs aren't as dense as Oak Park and Evanston (not even Tempe), not as Jewish as Skokie, not as wealthy as the North Shore (no, not even Scottsdale), not as old as Joliet, not as diverse as South Chicagoland, there's nowhere in PHX that has the rolling hills and meadows of Saint Charles or Geneva, and there are no forest preserves in the PHX area at all. The Chicago suburbs don't host a massive state university.
I suppose you could draw some similarities between some of the PHX burbs and Schaumburg, but most suburbs in the country are like Schaumburg.
On the whole the Valley is libertarian. Live and let live. The social conservatism that does exist is mostly attributed to LDS. OKC is in the Bible Belt with a strong evangelical influence that is much different than Phoenix. I used Chicago burbs as having big influence on Phoenix make up due to how many have settled into Phx area. I wasn't saying the Phoenix suburbs were similar to Chicago suburbs. I was saying the people from that area have greatly shaped Phoenix. I could also throw in Detroit, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Buffalo, etc. Phoenix is West Coast meets the Midwest plus a little East Coast and Mountain West sprinkled in, in a desert setting. OKC is the South meeting the Great Plains with a heavy influence of Texas. The two cities aren't that similar. Only similarity is sprawl even though Phoenix has 3 times the population.
there is a place few have heard of, called xineohp. It is just like phoenix but fickin freezin! Thats why i left an moved to the pheen instead. Hot weather way better.
I was just referring to winter, since no city in America is cold in the summer (except maybe San Francisco ). Having lived in Phoenix for 8 years and Vegas for 4, I felt a distinct difference in winter temps between the two. Phoenix would very occasionally go just below freezing, and even then only at night. Daytime winter temps in Phoenix would normally climb up to around 70 degrees.
On the other hand, Las Vegas would sometimes maintain freezing temps well into the daytime, and there's a seemingly constant wind blowing through the Vegas valley all winter long. And then there was the snow factor. I never once saw snow in Phoenix, yet like I said, it snowed every single winter that I lived in Vegas. I'd have to guess that Las Vegas averages about 10 degrees colder in winter than Phoenix.
The summers are pretty much equally hellish in both cities, though maybe slightly worse in Phoenix.
Weather aside, both cities look a lot alike (once you factor out the Strip, as another poster said), and share similar growth patterns. Obviously Phoenix metro is about twice as big as Las Vegas metro, but the similarities are undeniable.
The politics are similar as well. Both cities lean right, though Las Vegas has this bogus image to some people as being a liberal town. I'm not sure why that is. Maybe it's the party atmosphere or the fact that Harry Reid is from Clark County, I'm not sure. Las Vegas was very conservative from my experience having lived there. Maybe even a little more so than Phoenix.
That is so odd that it snows there. Tucson is ten degrees colder on average any day than Phoenix and it snows as much here as it snows in Phoenix (once every twenty years! :P)
Las Vegas I know isn't very liberal. Believe me, I know. But it's probably the Strip you could blame for that though.
On the whole the Valley is libertarian. Live and let live. The social conservatism that does exist is mostly attributed to LDS. OKC is in the Bible Belt with a strong evangelical influence that is much different than Phoenix. I used Chicago burbs as having big influence on Phoenix make up due to how many have settled into Phx area. I wasn't saying the Phoenix suburbs were similar to Chicago suburbs. I was saying the people from that area have greatly shaped Phoenix. I could also throw in Detroit, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Buffalo, etc. Phoenix is West Coast meets the Midwest plus a little East Coast and Mountain West sprinkled in, in a desert setting. OKC is the South meeting the Great Plains with a heavy influence of Texas. The two cities aren't that similar. Only similarity is sprawl even though Phoenix has 3 times the population.
I'll agree to the lack of social conservatism here. The Mormons do tend to interfere but they don't have a very big stronghold. Most of my time when I hear about them is something that happened at a public school that they don't like, and that's about it. Usually dress code. They do influence our voting patterns, but don't budge the general vibe of the city.
That is so odd that it snows there. Tucson is ten degrees colder on average any day than Phoenix and it snows as much here as it snows in Phoenix (once every twenty years! :P)
Las Vegas I know isn't very liberal. Believe me, I know. But it's probably the Strip you could blame for that though.
I was just taking a guess with the "10 degree" thing. It might be even colder than that. Also, I think the fact that Vegas sits downwind from an 11,000 foot high mountain (Mt. Charleston) plays into the snow/wind factor. Las Vegas gradually slopes downward from West to East. The far-West suburbs like Summerlin are over a thousand feet higher in elevation from the East side of town.
As for the part I put in bold, it's actually the Mormons and the more conservative elements moving to Las Vegas from the right-wing suburbs of L.A. that are to blame. Las Vegas has a large Mormon presence. Larger (percentage-wise) than Phoenix. The city was even founded by Mormons, and LDS has a big hand in Vegas' political and economic climate.
From what I understand, it was even more conservative back in the days when the mob ran things. It was extremely segregated back then. My next-door neighbor in Vegas was an old lady who had lived in Vegas her whole life, and she told me about how before the late 80's, you would pretty much never see any black people outside of North Las Vegas.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
jobs are pretty limited to a couple industries here in Phoenix
). Having lived in Phoenix for 8 years and Vegas for 4, I felt a distinct difference in winter temps between the two. Phoenix would very occasionally go just below freezing, and even then only at night. Daytime winter temps in Phoenix would normally climb up to around 70 degrees. 
really? I've never heard such a place!
