Why Nevada? Weather, Taxes or the Gambling? (Las Vegas, Reno: transplants, apartment)

[Dean Trails]

What drew all of you hardy souls to Nevada? What made it so attractive over say California or Arizona. A friend has been weighing all the options between those States and has yet to make a decision.
Local opinions always hold more weight than raw statistics in the City-Data.

[uli2000]

I moved from AZ because being in a specialized healtcare field, I made much more money practicing in a rural facillity than I would in a bigger area because of drastic staffing shortages in rural hospitals. Ive been thru a couple of the casinos in my town to get to the resturant, but thats about it. I have a wife and kids, I dont have any money I can afford to lose. Thats what tourists are for.

[MtnBikeNV]

I don't like california... too many laws, taxed to death, just not my thing. Arizona is ok, but Nevada has been good to me. Lived in vegas, pahrump, elko and reno. They all have their pluses and minuses.

[Dean Trails]

Originally Posted by MtnBikeNV

I don't like california... too many laws, taxed to death, just not my thing. Arizona is ok, but Nevada has been good to me. Lived in vegas, pahrump, elko and reno. They all have their pluses and minuses.

Which one do you like the best? I have friends that swear by Vegas but it seems hot and dusty to me. Pahrump seems cleaner to me.

Reno is ok and at least it is near Tahoe. Can't speak to Elko. In fact, I will have to look it up on the map to find it.

Everyone seems to like Gardnerville area and Henderson......

[MtnBikeNV]

Vegas was ok. Full of a lot of grumpy people, so many from california. Very transient. Very californicated. People come and go, it was very hard to make a good friend there. Winters were great, so mild, summers... very hot, our outdoor activities (I had horses in vegas) were limited to at night, or early in the AM, late in the PM. Pahrump was nice.... much more open, the people were nice, and it was conveniently about an hour or so away from Vegas.

Henderson.. ehh.. could take or leave it.

Elko... much colder, winter seems to go on forever. Last winter was the clincher so we moved to Reno. The main thing there is mining. Bars and mines. Some casinos. The rubies are gorgeous, I never got tired of looking at them. No great shopping there.... one has to spend a few hours in the car to get anywhere that has decent shopping.

So far, my favorite city in Nevada has been Reno. I love the location. For an outdoors oriented person, it's awesome. I've made some fantastic friends. The climate is great. Milder than Elko, but still has the seasons.

We're considering new mexico, just for something new. Will be weird to leave nevada though, been here over 20 years.

[Dean Trails]

Originally Posted by MtnBikeNV

Vegas was ok. Full of a lot of grumpy people, so many from california. Very transient. Very californicated. People come and go, it was very hard to make a good friend there. Winters were great, so mild, summers... very hot, our outdoor activities (I had horses in vegas) were limited to at night, or early in the AM, late in the PM. Pahrump was nice.... much more open, the people were nice, and it was conveniently about an hour or so away from Vegas.

Henderson.. ehh.. could take or leave it.

Elko... much colder, winter seems to go on forever. Last winter was the clincher so we moved to Reno. The main thing there is mining. Bars and mines. Some casinos. The rubies are gorgeous, I never got tired of looking at them. No great shopping there.... one has to spend a few hours in the car to get anywhere that has decent shopping.

So far, my favorite city in Nevada has been Reno. I love the location. For an outdoors oriented person, it's awesome. I've made some fantastic friends. The climate is great. Milder than Elko, but still has the seasons.

We're considering new mexico, just for something new. Will be weird to leave nevada though, been here over 20 years.

I was just in New Mexico to visit friends and they live in Rio Rancho. Nice little town outside Albuquerque. Low cost of living. Housing is cheeep but nice. They have an all brick 2 story home for $180,000. Quite a few jobs there with major companies that have left California like Intel.
Pretty nice weather too. High mountains with minor snow and cooler summers than say Phoenix.
Check it out you may like it.

[swagger]

I moved from California to get away from.. well... California. The cost of living is significantly less (for instance, I'm paying less to rent a 3br house in LV than I was paying for a 1br apartment in SoCal), no state income tax (they get you elsewhere [e.g. vehicle registration], but it's still not as bad as CA) and the nannification in California was (and still is) way out of control.

Being that LV basically controls the state due to its population, and LV is heavily populated with CA transplants, it's getting worse, but the overall political and social climate in NV is still WAY better than CA.

When I moved out of CA, I wanted to live in a city that wasn't in CA (#1 requirement), had a lower cost of living, was close enough to SoCal to be able to visit friends & family and have them visit me without spending an arm and a leg, was a decent size city and was in a state that's reasonably homeschool & gun friendly. That pretty much left me looking at Las Vegas and Phoenix, and there's absolutely NOTHING drawing me to Arizona. It was a pretty simple choice, actually.

[snowbunny82]

Its close enough to all of the action without being in the middle of it.