[cy18]

I have lived in Miami, Florida my whole life. I'm 30 years old, 2 college degrees and make like $22,000 after taxes. Why? I don't speak Spanish. If you aren't bilingual in South Florida, you have a lot of challenges to deal with. Moving to Vegas would change that challenge finding work.

I've been to Vegas twice in 16 months and hope to move there later this year. I'm planning to take a job with me and over $15,000 in savings. I also have no student loan debt.

The biggest challenge for me is truly finding a decent 1 room apartment in a safe area for around $700. I've found a few in gated communities, but it's very competitive.

Florida is an overrated state. Houses are too expensive. Nice weather and Disney? So what.

If you are not an open minded person, Vegas isn't a place for you. That's my opinion.

[BBMW]

I think there are a lot of skill sets where you can make a lot more in at least certain places in CA, than you can in LV. I did corporate IT for a lot of years. I bet that industry pays better in CA, at least in the major metro areas.

Originally Posted by SoCalCpl2

Or in the case of California where wages are mostly crap and the cost of living is sky high....

[Breathing4me]

Originally Posted by cy18

I have lived in Miami, Florida my whole life. I'm 30 years old, 2 college degrees and make like $22,000 after taxes. Why? I don't speak Spanish. If you aren't bilingual in South Florida, you have a lot of challenges to deal with. Moving to Vegas would change that challenge finding work.

I've been to Vegas twice in 16 months and hope to move there later this year. I'm planning to take a job with me and over $15,000 in savings. I also have no student loan debt.

The biggest challenge for me is truly finding a decent 1 room apartment in a safe area for around $700. I've found a few in gated communities, but it's very competitive.

Florida is an overrated state. Houses are too expensive. Nice weather and Disney? So what.

If you are not an open minded person, Vegas isn't a place for you. That's my opinion.

Majority of jobs in Las Vegas are requiring for you to be bilingual.....That's is also my issue on having a college degree and not having a job

[xusafpilot]

Las Vegas and San Diego (San Diego metropolitan) areas are in no way shape or form comparable to Las Vegas under any circumstances! San Diego is a much more diverse and established economy, sophisticated, (radical right wing) much more wealthy, much higher taxed than Las Vegas. I have a condo in Coronado that I inherited from my late father that he purchased in 1973; and that I use for a get-away place to get in touch with reality. Lovely ocean views from Tijuana to Pt. Loma, right next door to the Del Coronado and all that! The two bedroom, 2.5 bath unit, nicely updated in 2013 with clean simple finishes is worth more than twice what my home in RR Country Club that is four times the size with golf course views, pool and all that stuff. While San Diego from a geographical sense is cut off and pushed down from the larger LA/Orange county metro area, in my opinion, it IS part of that larger region. It's just that the Marine Corps are jammed into an immense amount of premium amount of ocean front real estate between the two. Las Vegas is a great and fairly inexpensive, low tax, low cost of living mecca. One just has to realize that to live well here, one has to be like in Hawaii, healthy and wealthy to live in this low wage/skill vacation destination. Las Vegas is simply a "Company" town.

[vamping]

I'm going to have to call you out on the dog issue. If you can't find a good hotel (most welcome them with a small pet fee) or a home away/vrbo rental that accepts pets, then you aren't trying hard enough or you truly just don't want to be bothered with the dog. Before you get all offended... I have 3 and when we travel, they either travel with us (and I am particular about where I stay), they are sent to their crate-free sitter (home with them 24 hours a day), or my godson comes and stays with them. Is it more expensive? Yes, but for them to be with me it is worth it because they are my family members and I care about them. I made a commitment to care for them when I brought them home. I understand if you may not have the means, but please just don't write your dog off because you can't find a hotel or someone at another one looked at you funny. If you decide to make the move and feel the need to rehome your dog, I hope you will consider working with a local rescue/no kill shelter in your area.

That aside, I moved here 8 years ago after a 7 year stint in the Tampa/St. Pete area. I have a love/hate relationship with living here, as I think anyone over the 3-5 year mark typically may have. I've been coming here since I was 7, and was well aware that the Strip was not all there was to Las Vegas, and did many of the typical local things since I had family here. I love the convenience and variety, my job pays well, and we've made some outstanding friends here. But sometimes it's a grind. The population has increased, the type of people moving here has changed somewhat, and the constant road construction drives me insane. One of my other big complaints is lack of good healthcare. It's hard to find a decent primary care doctor, and sometimes equally hard to find a good specialist. However, when I leave town for any length of time, I am always happy to come home. Finding friends, etc. will take alot of effort, but if you are wiling to put yourself out there, you can meet some interesting and good people.

I don't miss bugs, humidity, the subtle influence of 'southern culture', and most of all the high property tax and Citizens Insurance in Florida. I also don't miss hurricane season. As far as costs, it basically balanced out at the time I moved here. My car insurance increased slightly, but my property tax and home owner's insurance decreased dramatically.

[NLVgal]

Originally Posted by lovecrowds

I know the question wasn't intended for me. I just wanted to possibly comment on my 8 months.

I really did enjoy the strip when I was there. It's amazing the variety of people each day one can encounter. I believe about 40 million people visit Vegas each year which is 100,000 per day in the city.

I am a major extrovert and I love being around basically what is basically a huge diversity of social groups, cultures and looks of people in such a small area.

Flights to Vegas are very cheap and there are reasonable hotel rates to be had in the area.

I was in Florida myself for 2 months. Orlando, Tampa and Sarasota were the areas I visited. I always thought Florida had a dirty, trashy reputation but I was shocked how clean it was, how orderly it is and the people were far more polite and sane then I thought.

I couldn't even imagine what Orlando street sweeping and cleaning budget is. I don't think there is a city as clean as Orlando that I have ever seen. I doubt there is a medium sized city as clean as that anywhere in America. Las Vegas on the other hand is a bit dusty and dirty and doesn't seem to care.

The air in Orlando felt very, very clean also. Las Vegas on the hand is so very dry and dirty. The air in Orlando smelled like a tropical rain forest. Las Vegas air smells very dry and close to the strip it smells like sewage in the morning.

Florida also felt quite conservative as opposed to Las Vegas culturally. It felt quite wholesome compared to Vegas.

Orlando and Las Vegas are the most visited cities I believe. Orlando seems to do all it can to have a clean, shiny image for the tourists. Las Vegas in general doesn't really care about it's image as it is far, far more dirty, smelly and dumpy then Orlando was.

I spent some time in Orlando for business. Orlando smells like a basement. The customer service is awful, and there were many bugs. I didn't see any upside. I don't even like my hometown, but I'd take this dusty place over Orlando in a New York minute.