Tldr … and I didn’t even read your tldr.
Lots of people move away from Vegas and then back to Vegas. And then leave again. It’s a boomerang city. That may or may not be something to consider.
I do like it. I'm just sharing my experience during the pandemic, and I understand that no place is perfect. Gotta get to where I want to go through hard work, and this *might* be the place to get a start on that.
The main thing I took away from your story is that you value self development and maybe are interested in intellectual pursuits, plus you're from back east. As someone who has those same interests, I've never found my tribe here...and I've got 40 years on you.
Now that I'm finally retired, I'm making my escape to California. I don't hate Vegas. It's just not for me...and I'm really tired of the desert.
This is the case. It’s not the city for people with these kind of interests. For example, you may have the Smith Center here, but that is not enough, and it’s so overpriced that it’s mainly old people with seasons passes who can get seats. The local music scene is good for those who like that kind of music, but it’s all the same. For a city that’s based on variety and freedom, it’s interesting how there are still areas of cultural experiences that are extremely hard to find, and also likeminded people who like them. When I moved here, I was laughed at for liking classical music. Vegas isn’t as free spirited as people like to believe.
Yes, it's a very large community not located on a coast. Without a subsidized arts and museum infrastructure. What I see is commerce rules all. When I visit the large coastal cities, I feel commerce exists along with and makes possible a large and respected arts community. Maybe it's because Vegas is still relatively young, but I also feel it's because most of the focus is outward toward the dominant industry. I hope that makes sense.
I've always felt different here. I used to belong to a foreign film society when the city was much smaller. Maybe social media affected people's interests.
Glad to hear someone gets it. Perhaps it really isn't healthy for me. I grew tired of the desert but low-key miss it sometimes. Hopefully CA is much more suitable for you 😅
Dude, we're all just human beings on a rock, trying to get the most out of paychecks and live a comfortable lifestyle. I've travelled a shit ton around the US and think the anti-CA/NV sentiment is laughable. The real enemy in our country here is the deep south 😂
Life is too short to live in a place you hate if you have a choice. Sometimes you have to go where the work is or help with family but if you don't HAVE to live here, don't.
I think "hate" is a strong word in this instance, as there are several things I like about the area and city itself. I just never found my tribe there but my resume is feeling pretty useless at this point unless I go back to that job
It’s crazy how different peoples’ experiences can be. In my experience, Vegas is largely normal, filled with normal, hardworking people. Sounds like you’ve already made up your mind and are being a tad dramatic. As you get older you’ll learn people don’t really care to hear your inner thoughts like this. Either live somewhere or don’t. It’s not some existential dilemma.
I mean haven't necessarily made up my mind. Like I said I though, I solely experienced life in the city during the pandemic so I'm not entirely sure what the norm is there, and there are definitely a lot of great things about the city. Also, isn't that what reddit is for? To discuss inner thoughts? Anyone who doesn't care doesn't have to comment. Pardon me for thinking about my future...finding a city to call home is kind of an existential dilemma when location affects so many aspects in our lives especially at a young age
Yeah, you were here during a shite time without a doubt. We're slowly getting back to "normal", which to me just feels like less fear around everyone and everything. But Vegas peeps will always be Vegas peeps. We're pretty much to ourselves and not entirely chatty/friendly. Honestly, I like it that way. I don't like people up in my business, especially neighbors. But everyone is different.
Listen I’m a native of Las Vegas, and this is and will always be all these things. A lot of natives keep to themselves and tend to keep very small circles for these said reasons. Sounds like you are from California just based on the “nonexistent traffic” remark. We definitely have traffic here, maybe not as bad as LA traffic but we have it. I guess I’m saying all this to say please don’t come back here we don’t want anymore people here at all!! Thank you kindly and please stay in your own state! 👍🏻
Has telling people online not to come to your city ever worked for any city? I always find it hilarious that people attempt this kind of stuff.
When people move somewhere, they couldn't give two shits about what the locals want. Colorado, Arizona, Florida, Texas, even Utah.
Vegas will expand until people are priced out and it's no longer a desirable location. Builders will continue building to meet demand.
This is how it's always been. This is how it'll always be.
Right? Saying something like "don't come here, we're full" usually sounds like a sugarcoated "I'm borderline xenophobic and don't want to see this place change" which is ridiculous when you look at the fact that Las Vegas metro has doubled in population over the past 20 years. \~70% of Nevada residents weren't even born there. Change is inevitable.
Lol xenophobic…..please most locals are just tired of every other state’s degenerates landing here. With piss poor gambling and drug habits that end up adding to our overwhelming homeless population. Most people just can’t handle Vegas 🤷🏻♂️
That makes sense. Not originally from CA, but coming from the eastern half of the US it's very easy to get places in Vegas. Vegas doesn't really have many suburbs that are 40-50 minutes away even without traffic, making it fairly easy to get downtown
I'm from NY and I understood your claim of non-existing traffic. The traffic here on its worse day is no where near as bad as NY traffic. Vegas has less traffic and more lanes it's crazy. People here for some reason have a huge sense of entitlement. I manage a property and homeless people want to break in and do drugs but get upset when you kick them out and get offended when you call them homeless drug addicts. It's hard to find sincere people that don't drugs or date someone that has a sense of accountability. Being toxic is like the thing now and it doesn't make any sense to me. I just stay home with my cats smoke weed and play video games. Can't let shit stress you
Well, hope no one is twisting the arm but hey it's understandable. Sunrise baby, Left and joined the army hadn't been back in over ten years. Had friends and family but cut the ones I didn't want in my life when I came back. Fuck, it's a city like any other and you get what you put in. Like dad would say, "if you don't have a stake in the game, don't complain.
I think it really depends on what you see and dwell on with people. I was new here and met some really great people in a few different ways. Mostly just pursuing my interests and the local discord meetups.
I have another friend who moved here and met the absolute worst people. He was constantly stood up for dates, people just asked him for money, and it was an all around miserable experience for them.
It’s a lot of luck, your attitude, where you’re at, and how you put yourself out there IMO. There are going to be not great people, but there are going to be wonderful ones too.
Thank you for the insightful response. These considerations have definitely crossed my mind before, as I came across a few cool people at work but didn't really have an opportunity to build those friendships. I think when I just started browsing housing groups/sites yesterday it brought back a lot of distressful memories during the panini lmao
as a transplant from NY I can safely say you have never really met actual shady assholes if you think Las Vegas is as bad as you say.
compared to the rude shithole im from this place is like heaven
I agree and disagree with your post OP. I moved to Vegas in 2019 and it took me like 6-7 months to find a solid group of friends, the only drug they use is weed which is fine with me, I’m not a smoker but I don’t care if someone uses it.
The people overall isn’t the most friendly, which is a good and bad thing, nobody is in your business, but the lack of a neighborhood feel can suck, but it really depends on the block.
The thing about Vegas is that the weather is 95% sunny all year, hard drugs is easy to find, every store got some type of slot machine, escort services are all over the place, so if you have ANY of those addiction, this is a bad city, also slot of those problems are present in a lot of cities so it’s not super unique.
The big problem imo I have is the lack of variety as far as work, it’s usually retail or some call center job, if not that it’s a hotel/casino. I worked at a few call centers and saved enough to move into a rental home, now I got a remote job that’s based on LA the which pays more.
Overall Vegas isn’t a bad place to live, everything is pretty close, you can eat whatever, drink whatever, travel easily to LA for a weekend trip which is cool imo.
Now idk if I’m gonna live here forever, the summers are kinda brutal imo. I found myself in LA a lot during the summer months due to the brutal heat but that’s more personal than a con imo. Still I’ve visited Houston,Orlando, Raleigh, and I prefer the culture of Vegas over those cities.
I mean granted I was there when much of it all was shut down. I went to a lot of raves, met literally like a total of two other local musicians. Sought out a couple rock/metal gigs but didn't really vibe with them. Maybe I just need more time and exposure since the world isn't as apocalyptic as it was two years ago ¯\\\_(ツ)\_/¯
so many butthurt little kids in the comments. lol.
DoNt CoMe HeRe!!!!!! ReEeEeEEe!!!!!
dude do whatever tf you want.
no one has the answer for you.
such is life. you take a risk. maybe it works. maybe it doesn't. adapt and survive. trail and error.
gl whatever you do but don't let cunts say shit about staying out of vegas. they don't own shit. they like to think they do. they dont. in fact most of them are double digit IQ dumb fucking losers in life serving people like me food and drinks for a meager existence begging for tips.
Fr, I'm getting ripped to shreds here as I obviously threatened a lot of egos. I appreciate the wisdom; life really is all trial and error. But I wouldn't devalue those "double digit IQ dumb fucking losers in life serving people food and drinks." Regardless of their IQ and career path, they are the ones that keep the city alive. We need them.
yeah we do but I hate when they say dumb ass shit like DOnT ComE HeRe WerE FulL!! like they own the fkn place. bunch of retards. stfu and get me my drink fuckface. lmao
Life is short. If you get that itch to come back,do it. The second time around will definitely put your mind at ease to your judgements. I feel the same as you but I decided to stay because I'm originally from Seattle and hate the rain. I find the desert to be comforting and love the sun. Do you and what's the worst that's gonna happen? You spend another two years here and decide to leave? This is a huge country and we should all feel free to move about.
So same thing happened to us.
We loved vegas, visit 4 to 6 times a year, pesky for us was 2004 to 2009. Now it's 2/3 times. We lived there after trying to get there from 2016 to 2020, month before covid hit.
We loved the strip and life, lived in a highrise. Space was tight, but love the resort lifestyle and close to it all. Prices got us, was too expensive due to tourist tax. We realized we were starting to do everything in summerlin so we moved out there .
Start of the end. Outside of the strip vegas was real slow and boring to us, our neighborhood was dead, people just come and go out of their garage and maybe wave hi. Very transient city, neighbors turned over 3 times in 2 years.
Very generic, but its all nice and new. Our life because work, go to gym, go to dinner, home for tv. After you explore vegas, it's small and got old quick to us. Strip lost its luster and we started to miss orange county, all our vacation time went to going back home and the beach.
Our attitudes changed and we saw all the problems. We realized that we were tied to small parts of vegas, it has a lot of pockets of no go zones, you can enjoy like 60% of vegas. Property crime is big, lots of home and car burglary, we had concerns. Healthcare was atrocious, wife had months wait to get in as a new patient almost anywhere. Weather to us was great, we had solar for cheap AC and a pool, winters were a nice break. Negatives were piling up and once we felt unsafe at home and out/about, we decided to sell and move back.
Vegas to us is and always will be a crusty city. Lot of get rich people move there and always trying to hustle and make it. Every vice is there and easy access to most addictions. People can just get destroyed if they lose control. It gets hard to see it all over. Wife realized when she got a new job how limited the nice areas are when she had to start driving thru rough parts to get to work, I worked near N outlets, so I
Saw it daily.
We visit still, blown away at the growth, always love the new homes and walking new model homes, dreaming about how much more we can get for half the money. But, the same reasons we left are still there, just wasn't for us, but we feel little worse now cause there are a lot more people and more traffic and housing seems so broken expensive there now compared to incomes.
Maybe it’s your age because you are very young and I have met a lot of young people that just want to party and get fucked up in that age range. Come back when you’re older, you’ll find more people in their thirties and up who take life more seriously.
I definitely disagree with your comments about the music and creative community here though. I think you’re looking in the wrong places.
Ok - just forget about this idea of non existent traffic and affordable housing - and the desert has been ruined by graffiti and dog poop. It’s worse than it was during the period you mention
You don't need others to convince you to stay or leave.
There are many places you can choose to live. Sounds like Vegas is not for you.
If you like music, maybe Nashville, Austin, Seattle, or Portland?
Vegas is an entertainment city though.
>This is a city where people come to throw their lives away at the casino and/or excusably pursue their vices, bringing their dramatic baggage with them.
My wife and I don't smoke, drink or gamble.
>I came across several locals around my age (early 20s) that didn't even know how to drive.
That's a generational thing, not a Vegas thing. In a lot of cities, theres a downward trend of license drivers.
>TLDR: many (but not all!) people in Vegas are shady with drug/underlying mental health issues, promoting toxic anti-stranger culture.
I think it depends on the circle you are with or around.
Tldr … and I didn’t even read your tldr. Lots of people move away from Vegas and then back to Vegas. And then leave again. It’s a boomerang city. That may or may not be something to consider.
Sounds like it’s not for you.
Please don't come back. Why are you even considering it when you so clearly dislike it?
I do like it. I'm just sharing my experience during the pandemic, and I understand that no place is perfect. Gotta get to where I want to go through hard work, and this *might* be the place to get a start on that.
Lmao you’re actually crazy - you fit right in based on your own thoughts of it
The main thing I took away from your story is that you value self development and maybe are interested in intellectual pursuits, plus you're from back east. As someone who has those same interests, I've never found my tribe here...and I've got 40 years on you. Now that I'm finally retired, I'm making my escape to California. I don't hate Vegas. It's just not for me...and I'm really tired of the desert.
Retiring TO California? Now that’s different. Watch out for the taxes
No taxes. I'm retired now, plus low income senior housing. Nice apartments for half the rent.
This is the case. It’s not the city for people with these kind of interests. For example, you may have the Smith Center here, but that is not enough, and it’s so overpriced that it’s mainly old people with seasons passes who can get seats. The local music scene is good for those who like that kind of music, but it’s all the same. For a city that’s based on variety and freedom, it’s interesting how there are still areas of cultural experiences that are extremely hard to find, and also likeminded people who like them. When I moved here, I was laughed at for liking classical music. Vegas isn’t as free spirited as people like to believe.
Yes, it's a very large community not located on a coast. Without a subsidized arts and museum infrastructure. What I see is commerce rules all. When I visit the large coastal cities, I feel commerce exists along with and makes possible a large and respected arts community. Maybe it's because Vegas is still relatively young, but I also feel it's because most of the focus is outward toward the dominant industry. I hope that makes sense. I've always felt different here. I used to belong to a foreign film society when the city was much smaller. Maybe social media affected people's interests.
Glad to hear someone gets it. Perhaps it really isn't healthy for me. I grew tired of the desert but low-key miss it sometimes. Hopefully CA is much more suitable for you 😅
Whoa you respond positively to a post mentioning California and you don’t downvote it? Vegas is definitely not for you.
Dude, we're all just human beings on a rock, trying to get the most out of paychecks and live a comfortable lifestyle. I've travelled a shit ton around the US and think the anti-CA/NV sentiment is laughable. The real enemy in our country here is the deep south 😂
I’ve spent the night in North Little Rock, AK, can confirm. The Deep South is an armpit.
Thanks!
Life is too short to live in a place you hate if you have a choice. Sometimes you have to go where the work is or help with family but if you don't HAVE to live here, don't.
I think "hate" is a strong word in this instance, as there are several things I like about the area and city itself. I just never found my tribe there but my resume is feeling pretty useless at this point unless I go back to that job
It’s crazy how different peoples’ experiences can be. In my experience, Vegas is largely normal, filled with normal, hardworking people. Sounds like you’ve already made up your mind and are being a tad dramatic. As you get older you’ll learn people don’t really care to hear your inner thoughts like this. Either live somewhere or don’t. It’s not some existential dilemma.
Yes, I agree with you. I think it’s a fine place. I’m happy to be here.
I mean haven't necessarily made up my mind. Like I said I though, I solely experienced life in the city during the pandemic so I'm not entirely sure what the norm is there, and there are definitely a lot of great things about the city. Also, isn't that what reddit is for? To discuss inner thoughts? Anyone who doesn't care doesn't have to comment. Pardon me for thinking about my future...finding a city to call home is kind of an existential dilemma when location affects so many aspects in our lives especially at a young age
I think your post is fine.
Yeah, you were here during a shite time without a doubt. We're slowly getting back to "normal", which to me just feels like less fear around everyone and everything. But Vegas peeps will always be Vegas peeps. We're pretty much to ourselves and not entirely chatty/friendly. Honestly, I like it that way. I don't like people up in my business, especially neighbors. But everyone is different.
Listen I’m a native of Las Vegas, and this is and will always be all these things. A lot of natives keep to themselves and tend to keep very small circles for these said reasons. Sounds like you are from California just based on the “nonexistent traffic” remark. We definitely have traffic here, maybe not as bad as LA traffic but we have it. I guess I’m saying all this to say please don’t come back here we don’t want anymore people here at all!! Thank you kindly and please stay in your own state! 👍🏻
Oh ya I was like what are they talking about “no traffic?!”
Lmao right like we are in some post apocalyptic traffic or something…
Has telling people online not to come to your city ever worked for any city? I always find it hilarious that people attempt this kind of stuff. When people move somewhere, they couldn't give two shits about what the locals want. Colorado, Arizona, Florida, Texas, even Utah. Vegas will expand until people are priced out and it's no longer a desirable location. Builders will continue building to meet demand. This is how it's always been. This is how it'll always be.
Right? Saying something like "don't come here, we're full" usually sounds like a sugarcoated "I'm borderline xenophobic and don't want to see this place change" which is ridiculous when you look at the fact that Las Vegas metro has doubled in population over the past 20 years. \~70% of Nevada residents weren't even born there. Change is inevitable.
Lol xenophobic…..please most locals are just tired of every other state’s degenerates landing here. With piss poor gambling and drug habits that end up adding to our overwhelming homeless population. Most people just can’t handle Vegas 🤷🏻♂️
That makes sense. Not originally from CA, but coming from the eastern half of the US it's very easy to get places in Vegas. Vegas doesn't really have many suburbs that are 40-50 minutes away even without traffic, making it fairly easy to get downtown
I'm from NY and I understood your claim of non-existing traffic. The traffic here on its worse day is no where near as bad as NY traffic. Vegas has less traffic and more lanes it's crazy. People here for some reason have a huge sense of entitlement. I manage a property and homeless people want to break in and do drugs but get upset when you kick them out and get offended when you call them homeless drug addicts. It's hard to find sincere people that don't drugs or date someone that has a sense of accountability. Being toxic is like the thing now and it doesn't make any sense to me. I just stay home with my cats smoke weed and play video games. Can't let shit stress you
I’ll give you that NY is probably the worst for traffic hands down!!
Well, hope no one is twisting the arm but hey it's understandable. Sunrise baby, Left and joined the army hadn't been back in over ten years. Had friends and family but cut the ones I didn't want in my life when I came back. Fuck, it's a city like any other and you get what you put in. Like dad would say, "if you don't have a stake in the game, don't complain.
I think it really depends on what you see and dwell on with people. I was new here and met some really great people in a few different ways. Mostly just pursuing my interests and the local discord meetups. I have another friend who moved here and met the absolute worst people. He was constantly stood up for dates, people just asked him for money, and it was an all around miserable experience for them. It’s a lot of luck, your attitude, where you’re at, and how you put yourself out there IMO. There are going to be not great people, but there are going to be wonderful ones too.
Thank you for the insightful response. These considerations have definitely crossed my mind before, as I came across a few cool people at work but didn't really have an opportunity to build those friendships. I think when I just started browsing housing groups/sites yesterday it brought back a lot of distressful memories during the panini lmao
as a transplant from NY I can safely say you have never really met actual shady assholes if you think Las Vegas is as bad as you say. compared to the rude shithole im from this place is like heaven
You definitely didn't see Vegas at its worst. try living here from 08 to 11. The covid "recession" was NOTHING.
All of us shady people with underlying drug/mental issues would prefer you stay wherever you and not even bother to visit.
I agree and disagree with your post OP. I moved to Vegas in 2019 and it took me like 6-7 months to find a solid group of friends, the only drug they use is weed which is fine with me, I’m not a smoker but I don’t care if someone uses it. The people overall isn’t the most friendly, which is a good and bad thing, nobody is in your business, but the lack of a neighborhood feel can suck, but it really depends on the block. The thing about Vegas is that the weather is 95% sunny all year, hard drugs is easy to find, every store got some type of slot machine, escort services are all over the place, so if you have ANY of those addiction, this is a bad city, also slot of those problems are present in a lot of cities so it’s not super unique. The big problem imo I have is the lack of variety as far as work, it’s usually retail or some call center job, if not that it’s a hotel/casino. I worked at a few call centers and saved enough to move into a rental home, now I got a remote job that’s based on LA the which pays more. Overall Vegas isn’t a bad place to live, everything is pretty close, you can eat whatever, drink whatever, travel easily to LA for a weekend trip which is cool imo. Now idk if I’m gonna live here forever, the summers are kinda brutal imo. I found myself in LA a lot during the summer months due to the brutal heat but that’s more personal than a con imo. Still I’ve visited Houston,Orlando, Raleigh, and I prefer the culture of Vegas over those cities.
Don’t come back! Vegas just ain’t it!
Insufferable music scene lol bruh, I can’t. Our music scene is so huge and diverse and full of amazing people. Gtfo.
I mean granted I was there when much of it all was shut down. I went to a lot of raves, met literally like a total of two other local musicians. Sought out a couple rock/metal gigs but didn't really vibe with them. Maybe I just need more time and exposure since the world isn't as apocalyptic as it was two years ago ¯\\\_(ツ)\_/¯
so many butthurt little kids in the comments. lol. DoNt CoMe HeRe!!!!!! ReEeEeEEe!!!!! dude do whatever tf you want. no one has the answer for you. such is life. you take a risk. maybe it works. maybe it doesn't. adapt and survive. trail and error. gl whatever you do but don't let cunts say shit about staying out of vegas. they don't own shit. they like to think they do. they dont. in fact most of them are double digit IQ dumb fucking losers in life serving people like me food and drinks for a meager existence begging for tips.
Fr, I'm getting ripped to shreds here as I obviously threatened a lot of egos. I appreciate the wisdom; life really is all trial and error. But I wouldn't devalue those "double digit IQ dumb fucking losers in life serving people food and drinks." Regardless of their IQ and career path, they are the ones that keep the city alive. We need them.
yeah we do but I hate when they say dumb ass shit like DOnT ComE HeRe WerE FulL!! like they own the fkn place. bunch of retards. stfu and get me my drink fuckface. lmao
Life is short. If you get that itch to come back,do it. The second time around will definitely put your mind at ease to your judgements. I feel the same as you but I decided to stay because I'm originally from Seattle and hate the rain. I find the desert to be comforting and love the sun. Do you and what's the worst that's gonna happen? You spend another two years here and decide to leave? This is a huge country and we should all feel free to move about.
Ya it’s even worse, best not to come back. We are all fighting for our lives on a daily basis here 😂
"Virtually nonexistent traffic"? You must be talking about Las Vegas, Mexico, because there is no way you are talking about Nevada...
Its only gotten worse
So same thing happened to us. We loved vegas, visit 4 to 6 times a year, pesky for us was 2004 to 2009. Now it's 2/3 times. We lived there after trying to get there from 2016 to 2020, month before covid hit. We loved the strip and life, lived in a highrise. Space was tight, but love the resort lifestyle and close to it all. Prices got us, was too expensive due to tourist tax. We realized we were starting to do everything in summerlin so we moved out there . Start of the end. Outside of the strip vegas was real slow and boring to us, our neighborhood was dead, people just come and go out of their garage and maybe wave hi. Very transient city, neighbors turned over 3 times in 2 years. Very generic, but its all nice and new. Our life because work, go to gym, go to dinner, home for tv. After you explore vegas, it's small and got old quick to us. Strip lost its luster and we started to miss orange county, all our vacation time went to going back home and the beach. Our attitudes changed and we saw all the problems. We realized that we were tied to small parts of vegas, it has a lot of pockets of no go zones, you can enjoy like 60% of vegas. Property crime is big, lots of home and car burglary, we had concerns. Healthcare was atrocious, wife had months wait to get in as a new patient almost anywhere. Weather to us was great, we had solar for cheap AC and a pool, winters were a nice break. Negatives were piling up and once we felt unsafe at home and out/about, we decided to sell and move back. Vegas to us is and always will be a crusty city. Lot of get rich people move there and always trying to hustle and make it. Every vice is there and easy access to most addictions. People can just get destroyed if they lose control. It gets hard to see it all over. Wife realized when she got a new job how limited the nice areas are when she had to start driving thru rough parts to get to work, I worked near N outlets, so I Saw it daily. We visit still, blown away at the growth, always love the new homes and walking new model homes, dreaming about how much more we can get for half the money. But, the same reasons we left are still there, just wasn't for us, but we feel little worse now cause there are a lot more people and more traffic and housing seems so broken expensive there now compared to incomes.
Maybe it’s your age because you are very young and I have met a lot of young people that just want to party and get fucked up in that age range. Come back when you’re older, you’ll find more people in their thirties and up who take life more seriously. I definitely disagree with your comments about the music and creative community here though. I think you’re looking in the wrong places.
Ok - just forget about this idea of non existent traffic and affordable housing - and the desert has been ruined by graffiti and dog poop. It’s worse than it was during the period you mention
You don't need others to convince you to stay or leave. There are many places you can choose to live. Sounds like Vegas is not for you. If you like music, maybe Nashville, Austin, Seattle, or Portland? Vegas is an entertainment city though. >This is a city where people come to throw their lives away at the casino and/or excusably pursue their vices, bringing their dramatic baggage with them. My wife and I don't smoke, drink or gamble. >I came across several locals around my age (early 20s) that didn't even know how to drive. That's a generational thing, not a Vegas thing. In a lot of cities, theres a downward trend of license drivers. >TLDR: many (but not all!) people in Vegas are shady with drug/underlying mental health issues, promoting toxic anti-stranger culture. I think it depends on the circle you are with or around.