Las Vegas Demographics

Statistics Relative to Las Vegas Area Appraisals

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The following geographic, physical, political, governmental, sociological, economic and financial aspects of the community provide an overview to the subject market.  Highlights of national and regional (Nevada, California, Arizona and Utah) economic conditions will be noted as they affect the Las Vegas area.

 

INTRODUCTION

Metropolitan Las Vegas is situated in Clark County, Nevada as ± 275 miles northeast of Los Angeles, California, and about 285 miles northwest of Phoenix, Arizona, in the Nevada Great Basin desert.  Clark County contains ± 5,173,760 acres or 8,084 square miles.

Metropolitan Las Vegas consists of the cities of Las Vegas, North Las Vegas, Henderson and Boulder City as well as central and rural unincorporated areas.  Henderson is at the south end.  Boulder City, further southeast, is on a mountainous ridge near Lake Mead.  Unincorporated townships include Winchester, Paradise Valley, Spring Valley, Lone Mountain, Paradise, Whitney, Enterprise and East Las Vegas.

CLIMATE

Las Vegas has a desert setting at an elevation of ± 2,016 feet, surrounded by local foothills and mountains.  The climate has arid, desert influenc­es with summer high temperatures in range of 100 degrees to 120 degrees Fahrenheit with winter lows in the range of 25 degrees to 45 degrees.  The spring and fall months have moderate temperatures.  Rainfall is infrequent with the yearly average usually between 2.5 and 6.5 inches.  Monsoon type thunderstorms occur infrequently in late summer.

BACKGROUND

In 1829, Rafael Rivera, a scout for Mexican Traders, entered a green valley nurtured by desert springs and called it Las Vegas (Spanish for the Meadows).  For many centuries prior, the area was solely inhabited by several Native American tribes - the Paiute, Shoshone and Washoe.  In 1844, explorer, soldier and pathfinder Col. John C. Frémont (for whom the main downtown thoroughfare is named) rested near the headwaters of Las Vegas Springs on an overland expedition along the Old Spanish Trail.  Local settlement began in 1855 when Mormon leader Bringham Young sent 30 LDS missionaries who established an encampment just north of what is now downtown.  These missionaries raised crops, baptized Paiutes and mined lead; however, none of these ventures proved successful and the ill-fated settlement was abandoned after three years.   In 1865 Octavius Decatur Gass built the 640-acre Las Vegas Ranch using structures left behind by the Mormons as his base.

The City of Las Vegas was officially born in 1905 when the Union Pacific Railroad connecting Los Angeles and Salt Lake City decided to route its trains through the rugged frontier outpost with a population of only 30 people.  In 1907, Fremont Street first used electric lights and gambling and business flourished serving railroad men and prospectors from nearby mining operations.  In 1928, during the depression years, the federal government authorized Boulder Dam that is located ± 30 miles southeast along the Colorado River.  From 1931 to 1936, about 5,200 laborers worked close to 24 hours a day to complete what was later renamed Hoover Dam and often called the eighth wonder of the world.

Gambling was legalized again in 1931 and prohibition was repealed in 1933.  Las Vegas gaming establishments and speakeasies could now legitimately continue to serve local workers and tourists who came to see Hoover Dam by the thousands.  The El Rancho Vegas, which was ultra luxurious for its time, was built in 1941 on what would become the Las Vegas Strip; and, beginning a trend that still continues today, each new property tried to outdo existing hotels in luxurious amenities and thematic splendor.  Legalized gaming, the six-week residency period for divorce and low state taxation attracted tourists and residents in the early stages of development.  Postwar affluence, improved highways, around-the-clock gaming and entertainment of the neon powered "The Glitter Gulch" and the wedding industry boosted the local population to over 50,000 in the 1950's.  The growth of casino development fueled by headliner entertainment and large-scale capital improvement has carried Las Vegas from the 1950's to the present. Nellis AFB and the Nevada Test Site have provided stability and employment diversification since the mid-1970's. Las Vegas still has the fourth lowest tax burden in the nation.  

Las Vegas hotel/casinos have competed since their beginnings to be the newest, tallest, most grand but most importantly the largest.  In 1989, Steve Wynn introduced the Mirage with its five-story waterfalls, 50-foot erupting volcano, lush tropical foliage, dolphin and white tiger habitats and 20,000-gallon coral reef aquarium.  This first modern themed "mega-resort" became a tourist attraction in and of itself and set the standard for new hotel casino development in Las Vegas.  The Excalibur immediately followed in 1990 with what was the largest hotel in the world at the time.  A second wave of themed "mega-resorts" included the Luxor, Treasure Island and the MGM Grand.  They were called "The Big Three" when they opened in late 1993 and early 1994.  Several waves of new mega-resorts followed bringing other strip or off strip resorts such as the Rio, the Hard Rock, the Stratosphere, New York-New York, the Monte Carlo, the Bellagio, Mandalay Bay, the Venetian, Paris Las Vegas, and the Palms Hotel and Casino.  The most recent addition to the strip mega-resorts is the Wynn Hotel.

Though not an all inclusive list, other hotel casinos outside the Strip resort corridor, which cater largely to local residents, include Boulder Station, the Fiesta, the Orleans, the Fiesta Henderson, the Santa Fe, Silverton, Sunset Station, South Coast, Green Valley Ranch, Red Rock, and the Texas Station.  Las Vegas is now a world famous tourist destination.  The metro area hosted over 38,000,000 visitors in 2005, which had an economic impact of approximately $37 billion.

In July 2006, MGM Mirage began pouring the foundation of the MGM City Center, the largest private development under construction in the United States. The City Center will be an upscale urban residential district complete with high end shops, gourmet restaurants, cinemas, parks and unique pedestrian environments.  At the rear of the seven tower project will be a 60 story resort hotel and casino featuring two massive curved hotel towers with 4,000 rooms plus an ebony condo hotel tower with 1,543 units. At the north and south ends of the project will be two small boutique hotels including the 215 room Mandarin Oriental Hotel and Residences, which is expected to draw sophisticated overseas guests. The project’s centerpiece will be two glass residential towers with a total of 810 lofts and over 500,000 square feet of retail space.

This type of development appears to be the next wave of development in the Las Vegas market. Over the next two decades, new projects are expected to have different, unique elements and multiple use profit centers.  A perfect example of this new wave is another project on the new "South Strip", which also broke ground in July 2006, Urban Village.  Urban Village will be a 50-acre, $1.5 billion project of brownstones, lofts, condo hotel units, and flats at the corner of Las Vegas Blvd. South and Pyle Ave. This project will have over 2900 total residences starting in the high $300s for 800 square foot condos and a full array of commercial services and amenities in its own self contained neighborhood. Urban Village will be located between the new South Coast Hotel and Casino and the upcoming Station Casino development, and offer an affordable alternative to the higher priced center Strip developments.

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Clark County, Nevada is the southern most county in the state, bordering California to the West and Arizona to the southeast. Most of Clark County is located within the Mojave Desert. A dry, low-desert climate provides the area with year round summer like conditions. Adjoining Nevada counties include Lincoln and Nye. Clark County was created on February 5, 1908 and named for Senator William A. Clark of Montana, builder of the San Pedro/Los Angeles & Salt Lake Railway. Clark County is the sixth largest of Nevada's seventeen counties, covering approximately 8,084 square miles (20,937 square kilometers) and accounting for 4.4 percent of Nevada's total surface area of 110,540 square miles (286,297 square kilometers).

NELLIS AFB AND THE NEVADA TEST SITE

Nellis Air Force Base dates back to 1942-1945 when it was established as a training center for B-17 and B-19 bomber squadrons.  Later in 1958 it become a unit of the USAF Tactical Air Command.  The base covers ± 11,000 acres with ± 12,000 square miles of air space and ± 3.0M square miles when including restricted ranges.  Nellis AFB is known as the "Home of the Fighter Pilot" with over 7,200 military and 2,000 civilian personnel.  The 1995 operations expenditures totaled ± $242M.

In December 1950, the Atomic Energy Commission established the Nevada Test Site as a ± 1,350 square mile underground nuclear testing area located ± 65 miles north of Las Vegas.  The Department of Energy (DOE/NV) and subcontractors locally employed ± 2,800 persons in 1995.   Nellis AFB and the Nevada Test site are subject to political, congressional, NATO and defense budget constraints and influences.  The Stealth fighter squadron has been relocated to New Mexico, but the 66 Air Rescue Squadron (ARS) has become operational. A nuclear testing moratorium is in effect with early 1990's reductions to the current size/use.  Prior employment was in range of 8,000 persons at budgets approaching $1.0B.  During fall 1994, EG&E as the major contractor declined to submit for a contract continuation in favor of other ventures.  Currently, Bechtel Nevada manages the NTS with proposals commonly reported in materials testing, safety testing, waste disposal technologies, solar energy, etc.

DEMOGRAPHICS – POPULATION

Clark County and Nevada Populations, 1992-2006

Data Source: Nevada State Demographer

Source: Nevada Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation (DETR)

According to population estimates made by Clark County Comprehensive Planning, the population in Clark County grew to 1,912,654 in 2006. This reflects population growth of 5.3 percent over the 2005 estimate of 1,815,705. In 2007 we expect population to grow by 4.8 percent and another 4.6 percent in 2008. That will bring Clark County's population to 2,004,000 in 2007 and 2,096,000 in 2008.

Source: CBER

INDUSTRY AND LABOR FORCE

The economic base of the Las Vegas metropolitan area has primarily consisted of the income derived from tourism, the service industry, military installations, governmental and municipal agencies as well as mining, manufacturing, distribution and the Nevada Test Site.

The following labor market data provides industry specific employment information between the years 2006 to 2007.  It is notable that employment growth in Las Vegas, as noted by the "Total Industries" employment figure, has consistently increased since 2000.  Service industry jobs increased dramatically in the Las Vegas MSA between the year 2000 and the year 2007.  Service jobs started in 2000 with a count of nearly 658,800 and finishing with count of 791,500, a 20% increase in only 6 years. 

Source: Nevada Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation (DETR)

Source: State of Nevada, Department of Employment & Training.

Nevada Occupational Employment & Projections 1998-2008

Nevada-Statewide / All Industries

Largest Occupations / Ranked By Base Year 1998 Employment

Source: Nevada State Demographer’s Office “Nevada Occupation and Employee Characteristics”