So Cal to Vegas and Back (Las Vegas, Reno: 2014, apartment, rent)

People move back and forth all the time! After all, it's just next door.

Are you asking if they move back because they want higher taxes, more expensive housing and higher cost of living? I personally don't know any who moved back, but if they do, it must be for a VERRRRY compelling reason like a good job or family reasons.

People either hate Vegas or love Vegas, after they get the glamour out of their eyes, this is just another city with gambling as its focus.

A lot of us came to Vegas for a job, cheaper housing, a new beginning etc...

If you're from So Cal, you will miss the weather from there.

So you have to analyze it .....

Live in California, great weather year round, high taxation and high rents where you work just to pay your rent and live in a cardboard box...

OR

Live in Las Vegas, where the weather is hot and cold, but its sunny year round, low taxation and cost of housing is cheap and you have money left over to save (or gamble) and you live comfortable in spacious housing.

We moved to Las Vegas from Los Angeles in January 2013 -lived there for sixteen months and absolutely loved it - would love to be back there right now. We moved back to the LA area at the end of May 2014 because a startup/remote job situation ended and the fixed-location job we chose is in Pasadena. A job change was the ONLY reason we ever would've moved back to California - we really wanted to stay in Las Vegas for so many reasons.

Yeah forestgump99, your post is so accurate. No state tax in Las Vegas, could live in a way nicer place for way less money, overall cost of living was also so much less, traffic was so much less. About climate - I never missed the SoCal weather but we found that the desert is really cold in the winter months. It was totally worth it to be cold when we lived there but it will be nice to have warmer weather this winter. The temps have already shifted - it is ten degrees colder in Las Vegas today compared to LA. I would still move back in a heartbeat if we had jobs there.

eh... why move back?

to either place... once you've made an mature adult decision.

I've known many people that moved back to Calif. Most of the time it had to do with family. IMO, it's too bad they don't all do that. I know what Las Vegas was like as a small town, and most of us that do wish it had stayed that way. Feelings are mixed between new things, like restaurants, parks, shopping centers, etc., and missing the fun we had because it was small enough to know everyone.

But, just because some people didn't stay (I didn't stay in Laredo, Reno, or Albuquerque), doesn't mean anything about what it is like to live here. Everyone has a different reason. Look around. Most of the people that move here stay here; otherwise we would never have grown by 1.5 million in just 20 years.

In 1964 when we had 180,000, people were all, "Oh, boy, oh, boy, we'll have a million population within ten years." Why anyone ever wanted that I'll never understand.

Oh, the generalizations about weather in Southern California! L.A. had one hot summer this year, I was down there on 3 occasions, and I just had to be there when the temp soared to 102 degrees on one trip, and then there's those infrequent cold winters, where if you're within a mile of the Pacific, you'll curse yourself for not having more foresight and not bringing a jacket along! And a thick jacket!

San Diego, most perfect climate in the country???? Oh please! I only use San Diego's Airport and their Blue line train to San Ysidro, but even 14 miles south, oh those winter nights, had to put my clothes on under the covers of my bed, just to brave going to the bathroom! Brrrrrr!

One of my neighbors up the street was having a garage sale, a couple months ago, and they were headed back to Southern California! No jackets at the garage sale!

We lived in San Francisco, and once considered moving to LA, to lower cost of living (I'm not kidding - $3500/mo with annual 15% rent increase bonus for a shabby 1br apartment, anyone?), but eventually decided to go for Vegas. It was one of the best decision I've ever made!

For a fraction of cost that we were paying, we were able to buy a nice condo near the strip. We never play at casinos, don't drink booze, don't smoke but the life is good - a lot of things to do, concerts, outdoor activities, etc. and the local food scene here is amazing, too!

But my remote work assignment is changing, and we'll move to NYC (Manhattan) pretty soon. Even higher cost of living, and taxes on par with cali. We don't know how much we love things there, but I'm sure we'll never forget the good time we've spent here in Vegas - and it's very likely that we'll come back again at some point.

Cheer up! Haven't been reading the statistics? The rents in San Francisco have now eclipsed the high rents in NYC. Hopefully, a little cheaper for you in NYC!