Feeling a bit restless and am looking at a potential job in Las Vegas (IT field). I'm not into the whole gambling and nightlife thing, so that's not a consideration. I've never lived in a desert area and am curious.

Looks like there are a ton of residential rentals available in all parts of the city. What are the good and bad areas? Company is located on the south side of town, just east of the airport.

Any general tips or info for working and living in Las Vegas?

Thanks!

If the biz is on the south side of town take a look at the Anthem, 7 hills or Green Valley areas. Zip codes 89052, 89012, 89074 89044. All of them will be around 15 mins to the airport area. 15-20 mins to tons of BLM land open to shooting. Hardly anyone that lives here goes to the strip unless someone is visiting and wants to go sightseeing. Mt Charleston is about an hour away if you like to ski/snowboard. Lake Mead is a half hour. No state income tax!

My wife and I moved here from Utah back in March, down in Henderson towards Boulder City.

There's some things to consider.

There is no scenery here if you're used to Missouri. It's dead, brown, and dead. There is no water.  It rains in the spring and fall (so far). Temperature ranges from HOT (120) to mild (60) so far.  There's a lot of locals, but not nearly as many as there are tourists.

Utilities are SKY high.  Gas is expensive. Job market can be scarce for full-time competitively paid positions.  There are some legitimately bad areas to  avoid.  CCSD is one of the worst school districts in the country as far as testing goes.  Politics are OK but trending left consistently. We'll likely get UBC here soon with prop 1.

On the upside, I've met some of the friendliest people here. My neighbors are great. The weather is, imo, awesome.  I am not a fan of the cold, I can take or leave the humidity, snow sucks, there's no natural disasters (naders, etc).  If you're a foodie -- it's hard to beat. There's sooo many excellent restaurants you could eat a new one every week and not even make a dent in the number available. Booze is 24/7.  Everything, really, is 24/7--delivery, booze, delivered booze ...  There is no State income tax, but there is a sales tax. AFAIK there is no sales tax on groceries.

The lake is awesome if you're into fishing, paddleboarding, wakeboarding, etc. There's a racetrack nearby that you can run your own stuff on many times a month. Nearby an airport if your job requires travel. There's tons of shows, pool parties, clubs, comedy acts, burlesque, etc. as well. Groupon will be your friend.  Endless desert to hike, ride, camp, and shoot in.

Vegas is an interesting place to live and it's not for everyone. I pine for the green mountains of Utah still pretty frequently.  


ETA: Vegas economy is really fragile, and the jobs recovered from recession are not always necessarily superior to the ones lost.  Real estate is nuts in Vegas, but a bit more stable in Henderson and outlying areas.  There's abject poverty right next to middle class neighborhoods, and even wealthy neighborhoods, all over. It's Secton 8'd all to hell in some areas too.

Housing south or west of the 215 except for Green Valley. If you choose Henderson avoid Boulder Highway, its full of druggies, hookers, and bums. The town is small, even in bad traffic you can make it from one end of the valley to the other in 40 mins. I live in Southern Highlands and work in Anthem and it is a 12 min drive in rush hour traffic.

Schools suck. Period. If you have kids be prepared to send them to private or lotto for a charter.

If you're single, dating fucking sucks. Everything about it sucks. I hope for your sake you're married.

The entire town is 24/7 so that is one advantage.

As stated above, utilities are pricey, so is rent, so plan accordingly.

This really is a crap city for dating or even just socializing and making friends, sure you can go out and find some drunk chick in town for a bachelorette party almost anytime but to meet actual people who live here and aren't glued to a video poker machine there just aren't a lot of places to do so.