Aside from the strip it's not that different from Phoenix - a little greener, and about 7 degrees cooler. A problem occured building this city without realizing the exploding population. Traffic absolutely sucks and there is only one main freeway. And it seems like the city mascot is one of those orange and white construction barriers. However, there are nice areas outside of town, and certainly I would live here over honestly a lot of American cities. There is a never ending amount of entertainment to be had in terms of shows, music, food etc. People who live here and have jobs outside of the hospitality industry really tend to avoid the strip and don't gamble. Which I don't totally understand because without the strip it is a glorified collection of strip malls. The school system, while very bad, there can be found a couple of districts that are decent. Housing right now is the lowest it's been in years, with all the foreclosures and it's not a bad time at all to buy something in Vegas. And if you move here you won't be lonely, you will have different friends in town just about every week.

this place is one of a kind

I suppose if you're a gambler,and plan to spend you time there in air-conditioned casinos,you might enjoy it- but for me it's a hell hole.I recently visited friends there,and have been there before,and it is deathly hot.I mean the kind of heat where a blackout would kill thousands of people.Someone will tell you "It's DRY heat", and that may be true,but 100 degrees or so and you won't care or know dry from humid.Also,it feels like the very air sucks the moisture out of you and you will need to drink constantly if you are outdoors.It's a tourist trap in an oven.

I enjoy gambling and I come here occasionally. Frankly, I liked it better when the Mob ran it, and it didn't try catering to family entertainment.

As to living there, its a shithole. I'd rather live in Passaic, New Jersey.

Lived there in 89-90, population 600,000 in the valley. Visited in 2005, population 1.6Million metro valley. Not going back with kids. Go back soon, before the place implodes.

I love Vegas! There is a lot more to Vegas than the Strip and I think many people forget that. I tend to explore the area that are off the beaten path and have had a wonderful time. There is a lot to do in every direction you look so make sure you plan some things you want to go because you will be amazed at all the distractions!

Lived there for a year in '97, unfortunately I was 17 at the time. Would love to go back now that I'm old enough to gamble, but haven't had the opportunity. From what I remember it was a good place to live. The mountains are nearby and fun to climb, in the city there are always things to do, even for minors. It just seemed a fun place to be. However, I understand that the city has changed a lot, no telling what its like now.

A fun place even for kids.

I came here to attend grad school and have regretted it since. UNLV is a good university, but it is (surprise) no place to raise a family. If you have deep pockets and want to party, the strip cheese can be fun. The mountain parks nearby are beautiful. My main gripe is that there is no sense of community whatsoever. The city is an endless succession of gated apartment blocks with fake Spanish architecture. There are no major museums other than a brothel museum in Pahrump. The drivers are incredibly impatient and inconsiderate. The city is considerably more expensive than it ought to be, perhaps because of its proximity to Californians. It is the least friendly city I have ever lived in in my life.

I love that city, which has nothing to do with the casino's. The city is clean and easy to get around. I could live there.

24 Hour Non-Stop Fun for Party People Like Me!

It is definitely the "City of Lost Wages"

Pretty fun, easy liquor, lots of people on vacation.

I usually enjoy myself for about 24-36 hours. Any more than that and I am absolutely miserable, and I have a pounding escape gong going off in my brain. I'm all for letting yourself go every once in while, but if Vegas is Sin City, it's Homogenized Sin City, and the crowd gives me the creeps.

This town gets better and better every time I go there. My last visit I did no gambling and had a very goodtime. Viva Las Vegas.

a mecca for borderline illegal activities.  come on American we can do better. cant we?

I lived in Vegas for some years and I enjoyed it.....for about a month.  Then it dawned on me how fake the people was and how cultureless and tacky the city is.  However, there are many great restaurants and there is always something going on.  Vegas (not the strip) is basically parts of SoCal in the desert.....and SoCal sucks and so does the desert....draw your own conclusions.  It's hard to call it a "city" because it lacks an identity and doesn't even feel like a city.  San Francisco is a city.  Portland is a city.  New York is a city.  Las Vegas is basically newly paved roads, palm trees, Spanish tile houses, girls with way too much plastic surgery, and people who aren't from Vegas who have no idea what's going on....and gambling.

If you look at the history of Vegas, it was never intended to be a "city" in the literal sense but a play ground for adults who like doing adult things. Vegas had a little over a hundred thousand people less than 15 years ago now all of a sudden it has increasd five times that amount. Another one of these cities that don't attract the most educated from abroad or nationaly and economics dictate why. Also, is a desert sustainable for large populations where water has to shipped from hundreds even thousands of miles away half the year is so inhumanely hot you can't fathom walking for any length of time, and the air is polluted and unbreathable due to smog and cigarette smoke. Vegas as a city was mistake

This is the only place that I have ever been where I was driving around after midnight and my car's radiator heat light came on! The radiator was full, my fellow citizens. Everything in the wiring checked out. The service guy told me that it was just so hot outside in LV that the coolant could never cool down! He had that complaint from turistas all the time!

Not impressed. This is dessert, people. The neon lights only emphasize that a fake city has been created using water resources that could be better put to use elsewhere. It's flat, arid and hot.

So they built an illusion out here...and people actually love living here? BTW..the Colorodo River wont be around forever.

Wanna escape reality? Head for Vegas. What's particularly enticing about this city is that it fits most every budget imaginable, the food is fantastic and the airport is about a 5 minute drive from the strip. However, due to the semi-ubiquitous sleaze factor there, regretably, it loses a star..still definitely worth traveling to should you ever get the chance.

Surely, Las vegas must be rated higher than Winnipeg!

24 hours of potential fun, every day.

Overrated city overall, you must be crazy to want to live in this wasteland.

I think it was Robin Williams who said, it's the world's largest minature golf course. Its an interesting place to visit but I am not sure if I would want to live there. Lots to see and do, and its also one of the best places to people watch. You will think your at the U.N. because you hear so many languages. Great place to vacation so long as you like gambling and having porno ads shoved in your face.

Definately a party place. This place has change so much with all the new hotels. Lots of great entertainment and lots of great dining aswell. And a shopping mecca. No need to go to New York. Its all right here

Nice place to visit but NOT to live! Can't understand why anyone would live here, the locals are miserable and deppressed all the time, too hot, too spread out, etc. High rates of divorce and suicide, no thanks!

This city definately never sleeps! There is a lot to do in this city and there are excellent shows, waterparks, and casinos. I look at Las Vegas as a place to spend only a few days, it's fun to go every once in a while. I know I could never raise my children there and I would struggle with the high temperatures and the yucky tap water.

I fully embrace and revel in the decadence and seediness that is Las Vegas. Whooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Viva Las Vegas!!!!!!

the appeal of this place baffles me. hot as hell summer, coolish winters, no rain. sounds like a great place to live. not!!! plentiful half-assed jobs in casinos or hotels, nothing to raise a family on. this is one place where the housing price bubble will not just burst, but explode.

My rating is as a place to visit. Do NOT bring children (that is child abuse) and do NOT stay for more than 2 or 3 nights (more than that will lead to insanity). Lots of hilarious over the top attractions, and I like the dry heat in the spring and fall. I know some people who lived here and here's there advice- don't. Raising a child here is not a good idea. It's very seedy.

I do love Las Vegas... The nightlife is amazing...Studio 54 & Taboo @ the MGM Grand, The Ghost Bar & Rain @ the Palms, and the Voodoo Lounge @ the Rio are great for the party scenes. For a laid back kinda atmosphere, The Piano Bar at New York New York is great...actually that's my favorite place. Also if the down and dirty, Gilley's @ Frontier is cool...they've got a mud wrestling pit. If you like techno music (which I don't) the Ra @ Luxor would be a great club. I walked out of there w/ a headache...sounded like the same song all night long. I'm not much of a gambler, so I can't speak for the casinos. I've never met an actual local from, or who grew up in, Las Vegas (do they exist?). Las Vegas is the adults version of Disneyworld...definitely a debaucherous and scandalous city. What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas...I've heard that too many times in my personal experiences. It's fun though!

I hate this God for saken city. Where do i begin? Yes of course the strip is entertaining and looks beautiful at night, and it has beautiful desert and mountain scenery surrounding it, I won't take that away from it. Try finding a good meal on the strip though. All I could find we're the usual chains or overpicriced mediocre chow. Beyond the decor every casino starts to feel the same after a while. Downtown is nothing short of frightening. This is what I envision Baghdad to look like. And it's a joke they have the nerve to even call it downtown as it has no central focus, nothing inviting and no atmosphere outside of that stupid light show they have at night on Fremont street. Then when you look at the residential areas you can drive down one street for 2 miles and it's the same house !!! One carbon copy after another. Nothing but wide unwalkable streets, strip malls, and tract housing, not to mention you need to live in a gated area to even feel safe. Is this the future of new American cities? God I hope not. I think one reason why we have become such a fat a** country is because places like this exist and uncontrolably sprawl out in places like Phoenix, Atlanta, and Salt Lake City. I'll take a real city like Boston, Seattle, or San Fransisco that acutally invite people to get off their a** and walk and have atmosphere to boot.

A great place to visit, no doubt. I prefer to leave the kids at home. I've yet to win money, but I still have a good time when I'm there.

I lived here for two years before returning to my home town in upstate ny. While vegas may be one of the vacation capitols of the world, its one of the worst places to live. They have the highest suicide and the highest divorce rates in the country. As is porbably apparant by that statistic, the people in las vegas are all really miserable and all on prozac. The desert climate is overrated as well; the whole dry heat isn't bad is crap. Because it is a dry heat there is nothing green anywhere and it is very depressing. The sun shines all the time yes, but there are no trees, no grass, NO YARDS, The kids all play in the middle of the street. And then, when it does rain (which usually starts in November and ends in late January) it floods all the time. So yes, go to las vegas and have the time of your life, lose all of your money, and go home broke, just make sure you are out of there in a week, and NEVER move there.

This is sort of a difficult city to rate because it's so different from every other city in the United States. I've heard from people who actually live there, outside the strip, that it's not a bad place to live - the weather is nice, and the schools are well funded from all the people coming in to throw away their money gambling. Still, however, I can't put Las Vegas among the best cities in the country. The problem with Vegas is that it is incredibly ticky-tacky. Oh, sure, when you first go there, you'll look at the Eiffel Tower and the New York skyline and the gigantic pyramid with the sphinx that shoots lasers from its eyes and think, Wow! But I guarantee in three days you'll also be thinking how amazingly tacky it all is, and reflecting on how sad it is that you've seen the same person in the same seat pulling the same lever with the same frozen expression for the last five days you've been in the casino. This is a good city to see at least once, I suppose, but in some ways it's not truly a city.

Another one of those really fun cities to visit, but no way i'd want to live there, its in the middle of a baren desert, and it just doesnt have a real community atmosphere. Not to mention it has both the highest suicide and highest divorce rate in the country!

I moved here from pittsburgh and it was the worst thing I EVER did. I lasted 7 months and am tomorrow on my way to a real city, Portland. This is the worst city, if you want to call it that, that I have ever been to, and Ive been to Cleveland. Outside of the desert weather there is a huge list of crap about this place. First of all, if you dont speak Spanish you are automatically out of the running for anout 90% of the jobs, I thought we spoke English in this country? You cant walk anywhere, everything is so spread out. Public transpo is nonexistent, the CAT bus line is a joke. Every apartment complex is exactly the same, I could go on and on. The ONLY good thing about Vegas is there are a ton of decent paying jobs for people without an education. but again, speaking Mexican is a prerequisite for most of them.

Nice place for a weekend vacation. Excellent 5 star shopping and dining and of course entertainment. Just could not ever live there. Too brown, hot and dusty. Endless sprawl with housing developments as far as your eyes can see. My nieces and nephews live there. My nephews high school has over 4000 students. Totally overcrowded school system. Also no professional sports teams or much culture. Stayed at the beautiful Mandalay Bay Resort. Absolutely beautiful. Also I won $1250 at a slot machine at the Stratosphere. Yeah!!!

Plenty to do and see, even if you don't gamble. I think everyone should experience this place at least once. But forget about living there--there is a reason it is ranked #1 for the suicide rate.

There is no place in the world even remotely like Vegas. The architecture is incredible,there is something for everyone. Even non-gamblers. The weather is not an issue. Nobody spends too much time outside.

An exciting place to spend 3 or 4 days. it is definately the city that never sleeps, the city is alive 24 hours a day. The lights, each hotel trying to outdo the other with bigger attractions all the time. It's more than gambling, it has some great shows, and some exciting waterparks. The restaurants are excellent, although not almost free like 1st time visitors are led to believe. It's hard to notice there's a major city here, beyond all the attractions. I know I could never live here, after 4 days it all gets to be a little much.

Las Vegas is an interesting city. I had a good time on the Strip; there were lots of casinos and good restaurants, and I liked how many places stayed open 24 hours. Sure, it was hot there, but it was a dry heat, so my sweat actually evaporated. On the downside, the location seemed very isolated, like an amusement park in the middle of nowhere. Also, the tap water did not taste good, and the radio stations were lousy for a city its size.

I've recently vacationed in Las Vegas for the second time in my life. I really enjoyed the night shows (no..not the strip shows..I'm talking about Vareka). Boy, I tell you, this city must make billions of dollars per year because I find gambling to be addictive. However, I also dislike Vegas. one reason, and the only reason is that people are smoking EVERYWHERE! The airport has a smoking room, the casinos are filled with cigarette smoke, restaurants...you name it! My sister nearly had headaches almost every day while in Vegas. Plus it can get very windy and the dust flying in the air can irritate the heck out of you. All in all, I would like to go back to Vegas,..for ONLY two days.

Want to try out a new persona for a weekend? Or just indulge in the many things for which Vegas is justly famous? Then knock your self out. For a few days I can be as hedonistic as the next guy. But I do not recommend moving there. Urban sprawl is worse in Vegas than most other places today, the people are seldom friendly and often very dysfunctional. It is easy to get caught in situations that threaten your well-being before you know you have been drawn in. But for the vacationing epicure, it has plenty to offer 24/7 and might be best appreciated on that basis.

Having lived in Nevada my whole life, I can tell you that Nevadans aren't friendly people & not very trustable. It's nothing at all like Reno 911 but there ARE a surprising amount of close-minded hicks. BTW, it's pronounced neh,vaa,duh with va as in van, not nah,vah,dah

I'm sure it is liveable if pop culture is your thing, but I'd rather live in a nuclear waste dump than here.

Magnificent city with great casinos, pretty showgirls, and great hotels and inns. Even for those under 21 who cannot enter the casinos, there are elaborate theaters and shopping malls. The only downside is the high crime rate as you see in CSI. Anyway, I would love to spend a week in Las Vegas.

As a Native of Las Vegas and raised in the 90s I remember the strip was pretty much tried to go for the younger crowd,like the MGM Grand Theme Park,and Circus Circus Adventuredome but its seems like the last couple of years Las Vegas is starting to Suck by the closing the MGM Theme Park, but now the only exciting place to go is either Wet N' Wild water park of Forums Shops at Caesars.