Having no state income tax and a decent business environment are some pluses that have always attracted people to this state.
Housing and cost of living used to be key factors to attracting people to Las Vegas but as some have said, housing has gotten a bit overboard. Might not be that big a deal for those that live in places where housing is already expensive (CA, NYC region, etc). Cost of living is getting higher. Gasoline and electricity prices mirror SoCal. Natural gas isn't cheap anywhere anymore with more and more power plants go the "cleaner" natural gas route. Water/sewer can get high with the current drought emergency we're in (going on 5 years I think). Auto insurance rates are in the top 10 if not the top 5 regions in the country. Your plate registrations are a bit pricey as well (to offset the lack of state income tax) and if you decide to move here, you're required to register your car and get a new license within 2 weeks. With a pretty weak public transit system, you're pretty much required to have a car to get around. On top of that, with the population in the area around 1.6 million and growing, traffic is getting progressively worse and new/expanding road construction is not keeping up (plus the surges when a big convention or event is in town).
In terms of jobs, it depends. Lawyers tend to do really well with the amount of litigation that goes on (which accounts for the rather high auto and medical liability insurance rates in the area). Doctors and nurses are always in short supply, and doctors are leaving because of the medical malpractice insurance rates. Construction industry seems to be chugging along just fine and the service industry is massive. There's still a small town mentality here so it's more who you know than what you know that will determine how well you do in the job market. So without an in from someone, you might have to start at the bottom and work your way back up the food chain. Because of the historical lower cost of living, salary levels tend to be lower here, and they haven't risen much to keep pace with the higher costs of living. Some of the jobs require a background check (check with Metro at www.lvmpd.com).
Weather is fairly consistent. 300 days of sunshine in an average year. Maybe 15 days of rain (watch out for flash floods). It's a desert so the summers tend to get hot (and the inside of your car gets even hotter). If you're a car person, you might be washing your car a lot to keep up appearances.
Entertainment: Well, you have those high prices, high production shows and a pretty good selection to choose from. That also goes for the dining as well. There are lower end dining options but they aren't as plentiful as in other major metro areas (and sometimes harder to find). Once you get away from the higher priced shows, the options greatly diminish. You don't really have a good low end theater scene around here (where you get low production but a lot of blood, sweat, and tears poured into the mix). The live music scene isn't as great either. The big stars will come to town and sell (out) tickets for some outragous amount. But your up and coming bands tend the blow off Vegas due to the lack of decent small venues to perform in. There tends to be a lot of live music from bands that have had their heyday a while back playing in various places around town (usually at a casino) so if your longing for some formerly great band/artist coming through town, you might find them here (e.g., 38 Special playing the Silverton this Friday for $20). Gaming is all over the place so you can generally find decent places to gamble (and crappy places like quick stops, grocery stores, bars/restaurants, etc). The casinos will entice you with low cost or free dining/drinking options. Plenty of bars (because they can make more money at the machines than via drinks). Some decent nightclubs and afterhours clubs (seems weird in a 24/7 town).
The Las Vegas Speedway is getting some better usage (beware of the traffic).
There are some benefits for being a local. Some places will either reduce or kill the cover (from a hobby perspective, some of the gentlemen's clubs offer free cover to locals). Of course, finding escorts with above average rates (compared to the rest of the country) makes it expensive to hobby here.
As for outdoors stuff, with the high heat, it's not that great. Golf is expensive (cause of the water). Bicycling is dangerous (due to the traffic). Boating is a good option (Lake Mead not far away, and better places down the river like Lake Havasu; although the water levels are dropping due to the drought). Having access to a pool is always a good thing. In the wintertime, you have some options within a few hours drive (Mt. Charleston, or places in UT or CA).
Illicit drugs. They're out there. Probably easy to find. Can't say since I work somewhere where they require random drug screening so I personally don't bother.
As for a place for kids, not great. You get the transplants whining about the explicit raunch and sex on billboards. Clark County school district is the 5th largest in the country now and they are always trying to get teachers (who leave because of the high housing costs) and the rate they send kids to college is poor. The major university is UNLV (University of Nevada, Las Vegas) with a few smallers schools and CCSN (Community College of Southern Nevada). A few speciality schools. Which points to the overall slightly worse workforce available in the area. Mini pluses for Andre Aggassi, Greg Maddux, and Kurt Busch (and some new golf phenom).
If you decide not to hobby, it's a bit odd since there are segments where people hook up, get married (very easy to do here) for sex, then get divorced/annulled. Trust can be based on how long you've lived here.
So unless you've got a (good) job lined up already (and a backup plan or three) before getting here, I'd say don't bother since you'll probably wind up being one of those homeless people who can't leave town.
Bob
